Vulpine Times
by Alex Ultra
Summary: Magikarp is yummy. There's fire in mah tummy! How does fire-type blood work? And why can't I win? Bah! Gonna keep trying. Always move forward. Vulpix, lots of 'chu's, some TF
1. Chapter 1

Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Before I start I'd just like to say that part of the impetus for writing this story is thanks in large part to the author Fragmented Disillusionment, and his story 'Minor Miscalculations', with some additional impetus coming from Rusty Raccoon's 'Just Your Average Pika'. Past that, though I can claim some amount of inspiration from those two stories (hey, they got me back into Pokemon at least, and that's saying something!), this particular story actually has a pedigree measuring in at nearly a decade now. More on that later, though, after the end of this chapter.

* * *

**Vulpine Times Chapter One - Prologue **

* * *

Deep in a cave, close to if not within the area of Kanto, there was a being of great power and superior resolve, though some would say his lack of experience in certain areas would make him come off as, at best, an adolescent. (Don't tell HIM that though!)

He'd been here for quite some time, quietly knowing himself and those around him, protecting and defending, if only for something to do; see, those he defended didn't need it, and would often tell him exactly that. They were loyal to him, perhaps to a fault, but even he agreed that they didn't really need his protecting. The problem was that, as he understood it, he wasn't protecting THEM from the WORLD, he was protecting the WORLD from THEM. And despite all their prowess, and despite all that they were, they didn't truly understand this.

Although, if the truth were to be told, he was fine with that; why, he was even starting to consider... but that is a story for another time. For now, he had better things to think about.

_'Master, what bothers you?'_

He shook his head, slowly gesturing the little yellow companion away, **"It's nothing, I just sensed something is all."**

Pikachu lowered his head a tad, slowly responding, _'Is there... some way I can help?'_

He shook his head slowly, **"There is no need for that; although I can sense it, it is much too far away for any of you to be bothered by it."**

Pikachu backed away a bit, submitting to his master, _'Okay. Master?'_

**"Yes?"**

_'There are humans coming here... Wing and I spotted them riding a Blastoise toward the island...'_

**"I see."** He thought for a moment, then turned, **"Start gathering the others, I wish to speak with them."**

The Pikachu squeaked and scurried away, leaving him to his thoughts for just a moment longer.

'What was that I felt? ... I think I just might investigate, perhaps Mew can watch the colony for a time...'

* * *

I did not know pain... incredible, indescribable pain. Unknowable pain, so intense as to force consciosness out, outside the periphery, beyond where thought could occur and thus it could not be known.

I did not know how long it lasted, nor could I truly think anything of such inane concepts as time, dealing with the reality of being torn to shreds was much higher on my priority list, after all.

I might have screamed, or I might not, I was unsure, really. But as with most things an end came, and the end was only the beginning.

* * *

Altair was not a cautious Pikachu, nor was he bold, or brave. In fact, he hardly understood what it meant to be brave, short of what it took to impress females. But what he _was_ was adventurous. Adventurous enough to leave the colony for extended periods, even though there wasn't much to explore that wasn't cut off by physical boundaries such as sheer walls and rolling rivers.

Altair's colony lived in a remote, isolated area nearly devoid of trees, with little grass and only just enough to eat, but though they were isolated they were comfortable. Here there were few predators, fewer enemies, and those same features that cut them off also gave them protection.

Life had always been good at the abandoned power plant.

On this day Altair had been travelling a bit up-river, near where sparse grass gave way to a few trees, wandering a bit and perhaps hoping that he might spot some food, or _something_ of interest. Why, he'd even be satisfied if a trainer had fallen out of the sky, pokeball ready to capture him. He'd still run, but at least it would be interesting.

"Pika?" For a moment he feared that perhaps he'd been hasty in his wish for something interesting, as he noticed something approaching his position from the sky; not making any noise but coming closer nonetheless. But the sight wasn't all that gave him pause, it was the _feeling_; unnatural, horrible, wholly unnerving feelings that couldn't be explained even if he'd tried, yet were captivating in much the same way; so strange as to have locked him in place curiously staring in abject terror as something black, with specks of white, descended upon him.

Then the black became red, the whiteness swallowing what was left, even as the whole of it became that much brighter, that much closer, and that much stranger.

Then he heard something, the call of someone in distress; it was not attacking him, it was attacking another! But who!?

He soon got his answer as the red ball of light, seemingly opposed by the white streaks, slammed into the peak of a nearby palm tree, not quite breaking it but creating a crack which Altair recognized as the release of electricity on a grounded object, followed closely by a small mass tumbling from the impact point. "Pi?"

Curiosity still outweighing concern, the young Pikachu continued to watch as the ball of red, with well groomed silken hair no less, emerged to show itself, "ChuKa?" _'Vulpix?'_

Despite that he now knew what it was, Altair still did not approach, for the strange Pokemon was still sending off waves of strange energy, primarily in the form of red lightning which surrounded it, but as he watched Altair's attuned senses noticed something else, something... electrical...

"Chu pikachu ChuKa!?" _'An electric Vulpix!?'_

Though he remained stunned, and now FAR more curious than afraid, Altair's flight instincts nearly caused him to turn and run when the energy, crackling around the creature furiously like a caged beast, loosed itself primarily from her tails straight into the air, screaming off like a dragon rising to its domain in a flash of red and white that nearly sent the young Pokemon to his rump...

And then... it was over, and as the energy dissipated Altair was left with nothing but the sounds of a Vulpix screaming unintelligably and the distinct feeling that something beyond his understanding had just occurred.

Altair was not a brave Pokemon, and he was not cowardly, but after a display like that he wasn't about to face the strange fire-type alone. And with that in mind, he quickly left the little Vulpix to pass out in peace.

* * *

"Raichu, Rai-chu chuRai?" _'Altair, how much farther?'_

"Pika! Pika-chu! Chu pikachu ChuKa!" _'Close! It's real! An electric Vulpix!'_

"Piika, pikachu chuka pii." _'I smell something, of ash.'_

As their noses started to guide them the party of four, two Raichu and two Pikachu, started slowing down so as not to frighten anything that might be... well, frightenable.

And soon, they found it.

* * *

I'm not sure how long I was out of it, but the sound of chattering brought me back, though what I discovered had me confused, and not a little bit alarmed.

_'Is she badly hurt? She smells of burns?'_

_'Maybe she is supposed to?'_

_'She doesn't _look_ injured...'_

_'If she is, what should we do?'_

I blinked, shaking off the chatter as I came to the land of the living, bright lights and a low-level hum leaving my head in a blur as I turned around, still feeling as much as though I were dreaming as awake.

_'She's awake!'_

When my vision finally settled and my mind had finished rebooting, I found myself looking at a single... yellow blob, which quickly resolved into something more solid. 'A... Pikachu?'

Ignoring my confusion, the creature went to all fours, approaching me with caution before speaking carefully, "Pika; Pika pikachu?" _'Hello; are you injured?'_

My heart nearly leapt from its place in my chest, giving me a massive heave of adrenaline and wakefulness that I nearly passed out again then and there, "Vul-vulpix pix!?" _'Wha-What's happening!?'_

Perhaps it was my strange response, or my strange behavior, or maybe it was because I hadn't answered its question, but the Pikachu responded by tilting its head and speaking again, still in that perfectly-understandable pseudo-language that seemed to convey meaning directly to my mind, _'You fell from the sky and used electricity. Why?'_

As I heard these words I backed away for a moment, suddenly aware that I was as much on all fours as the being before me, perhaps even more-so as I darted my eyes in all directions before finally looking down at what had moments before been my hand.

The sight of a brown, furred paw greeted me, and with some morbid fascination I looked further, finding a furred shoulder at the front of a barrel-like torso of red, ended with two animalistic legs and... four silken-brown tails, each of which ended in its own curl...

_'Are you injured?'_ There was that question again, directed at me and spoken in that pseudo-language that I appeared to understand relatively well...

Mind racing, I looked back to the somewhat-nervous creature, marvelling at it even as I was slowly coming to realize that I should respond, _'I... don't think so...'_

As I shakily sat back on my haunches, considering myself and the strange world around me, the Pikachu turned to one side, where I saw that there was one more Pikachu and a pair of Raichu closely watching the goings-on; apparently not specifically interested but still curious enough to stick around. As the one that had apparently been appointed to be the emmissary said something to the others, I suddenly felt the need to speak up, _'I'm sorry! I didn't... hurt anybody, yes?'_ As I said this I stood to all fours and backed away carefully, trying to consider my options; in any careful situation, the first few moments often counted the most, and I had no idea what would be the result with just one wrong move.

The Pikachu turned back, _'No, you just came from the sky!'_ He accentuated this statement with wide movements of his forelimbs, showing an immitation of one fist flying through the air and smacking into the other one, _'And then you hit that tree and you fell, and then you did an electric attack at the air!'_

I blinked at this, turning my head curiously, _'I... did?'_ I then looked at the tree, which showed some mild damage near the top, which made me wonder about how I could survive such a long fall unscathed... Leaving that thought to the side for a moment as I suddenly came back at them, a fervor in my 'words' that had been absent before as excitement and mild panic started creeping in on me, _'Where am I? We! What.. where... OH NO! Where do I go!? Who will believe me! I can't- but- I! N-nnow...'_ Highly agitated, I started pacing in a tight circle, both physically and mentally chasing my tails as panic started to overtake me.

Suddenly one of the Raichu stepped in my path, making me stop and take a step back, _'Calm down! We won't hurt you, just calm down.'_ It had its forepaws out in front of itself, holding them in a peaceful, disarming position, though I knew that he could attack quite quickly from any position should I antagonize them, and he had plenty of backup, too. Though all of that escaped my mind as my own forelimbs failed me and I quickly shivered to the ground, mind spinning and emotions running wild...

_'I'm sorry, I'm sorry-'_ With some effort, I shook the stupidity from my head before speaking one more time... _'I think... I'm lost...'_

As those around me took this in, apparently unsure how to handle the situtation, a flash of yellow-black caught my attention as a little ball of fluff dashed at me chanting "Pipipipi" _'Runrunrunrun'_ to stop just a few feet away.

The Raichu seemed to notice my attention, as well as the arrival of one of its young and moved to chastise it, but as often happens with the most hyper of children the little critter dodged around the elder to look at me excitedly from under one of the elder's arms, _'What is it?'_

_'It's a fire type-'_ Raichu reached for the Pichu, but the Pichu simply hopped to his other side.

_'Is it friendly? Will it play?'_

_'I don't know, but you shouldn't be here!'_ Raichu found that Pichu had ignored him, dodging around his grabs once more to get around to his opposite side.

_'Did you ask it? We should ask it!'_

_'Stop running arou-Ah!'_ And with one last lunge, Raichu managed to fall on his face as the little Pichu ran up to within a few inches from my face.

I meanwhile had found myself to be incredibly amused by the display of childhood in action, and had nothing but a smile in my eyes as the little one smiled, waving one arm in the air over its head, _'Hiii miss fire-type! My name's Aik'sha, you wanna play!?'_

As I laughed in response the Raichu got his bearings back and picked the child up from under her arms, eliciting a few disappointed sounds from the little ball of energy, which made me smile even more, _'You should do what they tell you, little one; you could get hurt if you don't!'_

Aik'sha huffed from her place between the elder's paws, _'I'm not that little! I'm real close to evolving! I hardly ever shock myself now!'_

One of the Pikachu, which for some reason I could tell was female, approached us to chastise the hyper little fluff-ball, _'She's right, you could get hurt, just running up to strange Pokemon like that! What if she attacked you?'_

Aik'sha puffed with frustration, _'But nobody plays with me anymore! Ka'shi just lays there, and Ti'ka is always sleeping! I'm all alone since brother and sister evolved!'_

As Raichu handed the child to the female Pikachu, I stood, a tad more sure of my ability to do so now, _'Are there... a lot of you, nearby?'_ I didn't bother thinking about how I was saying what I was saying, too preoccupied with trying to sort out thoughts never spoken and hardly understandable to begin with.

The Raichu laughed, _'Some! So you will not fight us?'_

I shook my head vigorously, having no desire whatsoever to fight with these... somewhat intimidating creatures of vaunted power and up-close intimidation value, _'I won't fight you, I make it!'_ Of course the Raichu didn't seem to notice as I stopped to consider my sudden choice of words, puzzling at the sudden replacement for 'promise', finding that I had no suitable replacement. 'Strange...'

Raichu laughed some more, waving one large paw at me, gesturing for me to follow, whence I followed, acutely aware that the other four electric rodents were following me close behind.

As we passed through a thicket of grass I was mildly startled as a silver metal ball with magnets and screws attached flew out in front of me, causing me to yell out and fall on my behind.

The Pichu, Aik'sha came and patted me on the shoulder with a smile, _'Don't be afraid of them, the Magnemite never do anything but fly around and make noise!'_

I nodded dubiously, taking in whatever knowledge I could as I returned pace behind the lead Raichu.

_'Hey, can I ride you? They never let me ride them!'_ Aik'sha suddenly did the one attack that no one, human or Pokemon could resist: the Puppy Dog Eyes attack, holding her forepaws together as she looked up at me with wide, soulful eyes, "Piiiiiiiiiii?" _'Pleeeease?'_

I was taken by the utmost of surprise at this and nearly forgot to respond, instead stuttering single syllables that meant nothing even in this strange language I now found myself speaking. I did finally smile, nodding slightly, _'Sure, ok.'_ I then lowered my head to let her climb on, which she did with an excitable squeal, whence she planted herself on my shoulders, grabbing hold of the fur at the nape of my neck.

_'Let's go! Yaaay!'_ As the child started bouncing excitedly a bit, I couldn't help but laugh and smile; I'd always loved kids.

The female Pikachu appeared beside me, looking at Aik'sha, _'You keep still, okay? You're bigger than you once were.'_

As Aik'sha made disappointed noises, I turned to the female, though I quickly found myself with no ideas as to what to say.

She, however, quickly supplied conversation, _'Hello, I am Natty, who are you?'_

Blinking at the name, if for no other reason than an attempt to commit it to memory, I formulated my own response, _'I am Sari.'_ That said, I looked around a bit, discomfort seemingly apparent.

_'Sari? Sounds... funny; where are you from?'_

I considered this for a moment; where WAS I from, exactly? _'Ah, somewhere far away, I think.'_

Aik'sha chose that moment to laugh out loud, _'You sure don't know alot! Is your name all you know?'_

Natty, unperturbed, went for her own line of thought, _'I bet it's hot where you're from; I heard fire-types like it hot.'_

I considered this, and decided to answer honestly, _'Sometimes, but it gets cold too. Very cold.'_ I nodded decisively; whether I was a fire type or not, any temperature sufficiently below freezing _was_ cold. Perhaps an ice-type wouldn't think so, but _I_ did!

Natty wondered on this for a moment, then smiled, _'It rains here sometimes, but it gets hot in the nesting places! Maybe you'll like that?'_

I smiled, a bit of nervousness creeping up on me, unsure of what to think about that... that is until I saw it.

_'Oh... wow! It's big!'_ I didn't exactly allow myself to get overwhelmed with awe or anything, after all I'd seen bigger buildings from much closer, even to my suddenly-reduced perspective, but it was still pretty big.

Natty smiled widely, _'Yeah! I think it used to be a human thing, but it's nice inside! Let's go!'_ She suddenly ran off, passing the Raichu quickly, who just sighed and raced to match her pace, which I did as well after a quick adjustment to be sure my passenger was still holding on well enough...

Or at least I tried to, it felt like I couldn't quite make my legs work the way they were meant to for a moment; oh they responded alright, but something about the ways they were built just made the alternating, two-legged movements of human running Just Not Work. I actually nearly fell on my face before I got the hang of the loping strides required of this form, much to the amusement of Aik'sha, who enjoyed the ride rather alot after this point.

Although I lagged behind quite a bit, I did finally meet up with the others at the entrance to the large power-plant, which I had to admit looked even bigger up close, seemingly built into the side of a mountain as it was. Once I approached the door the ones who were there waved me to follow and then darted inside, after which I soon followed along with the ones who had lagged behind with me.

Walking through the corridors, avoiding various electric-type Pokemon (most dangrously the various Voltorb and Electrode that seemed fond of sitting on random spots of the floor), and generally feeling confused ruled the next half-hour or so as I followed my hosts, Aik'sha pointing out various things of interest and commenting on the relative pros and cons of playing with the assemblages of Pokemon around the areas through which we passed, much of which simply led to me understanding that there were areas best avoided.

There were Pikachu just about everywhere in here, but it was only when we came to one last room that I started seeing Raichu about... a LOT of Raichu. Not just ten or twelve, but easily three dozen or more, all surrounding a large machine which I recognized as an operational generator, which was obviously spinning noisily and generating a relatively quiet hum and gentle heat that licked at my face like a pleasant breeze.

Finally my hosts stopped and Natty gave Aik'sha a look, _'Go to your brothers now.'_ Aik'sha didn't complain, merely saying a quick good-bye and running off to a little corner with two other Pichu and a small clutch of eggs.

It always puzzled me why mammals would so commonly be born from eggs, but didn't question it; if that was how it worked, then that was how it worked. Besides, bearing eggs that did most of the birthing allowed the females to be more ready to fight for longer periods, which would be good in a world where combat was common and often intense.

Not that such concerns were all that important when my Raichu guide stopped beside another Raichu, this one female; the two of them nuzzled in greeting for a moment, a spark or two flying from their cheeks before one started quietly briefing the other. Feeling this was important, I sat down to await what would come of it; I didn't have to wait long.

The female approached me, lumbering a bit on her rear-limbs, though much more sure in that position than the younger-levels seemed to be: All the Raichu walked nearly exclusively on rear limbs, where Pikachu seemed equally at home either way and the Pichu seemed to prefer all-fours.

She waved her arm with a smile, _'Hello! Are you friendly?'_

I blinked for a moment, but nodded, _'I think so?'_

The male Raichu approached beside the female, _'Do you have a human to look for?'_ I shook my head, I didn't have any humans to look for, at least none that I could think of.

The female smiled again, _'No other fire-types are here, but do you want to stay? We have enough food for one more belly!'_

I was perplexed for a time, wondering just what was going on; how could so many animals, Pikachu, Raichu, Pichu, and even supposedly the Voltorb and other pokemon of the area be so numerous with so little apparent food nearby!? It really didn't seem to make sense, but if they insisted... Besides, a bit of shelter until I got used to things would be nice.

I needed only to nod my acceptance, but I added a verbal line anyway, _'Okay, I am Sari.'_

The male nodded with a smile, _'I am Karro!'_

The female gave a happy, though not overenthusiastic wave with a friendly smile, _'I am Datta.'_

The Pikachu that had followed me, a male, came up beside me with a happy smile, _'They're our first-ones!'_

_This_ I understood right away, expressing my understanding with a light gasp; these were the alpha pair, presumably the oldest and strongest of the group and the leaders-apparent, which made sense with the way all the others simply accepted their judgement with little thought.

That same Pikachu quickly moved on, apparently not noticing my silence, _'I am Altair!'_

For a moment I was still, then I was suddenly struck with an incredible urge to laugh, which I only just resisted long enough to ask, _'Altair?'_

Altair nodded, adopting an amused smile accentuated with one hand scratching the back of his head.

Amused, I swished my tail(s), giving Altair a look of priceless enjoyment, _'I like that name.'_ I wasn't sure I could convey enough meaning to tell the poor male that he was named after a star many light-years away, but I felt that I had to say _something_ to the effect.

The attention seemed to have gotten to him and he laughed, _'I think Sari is pretty too!'_ As I adopted a bemused expression he darted a few feet back the way we had come before turning around with a wave, _'I'll show you more! Come on!'_

And with a quick look to the alphas, who hardly even seemed interested, having gone back to... whatever they did back there, I took off after him.

* * *

It didn't take me long, with the help of both a nose sensitive to such things and memories from the past, to see some patterns that would help to assist me in, at the very least, telling male from female around here; for some reason, where male Pikachu have full tails resembling mini lightning-bolts, the females have just the smallest notch missing upon evolving to said stage, which stays there throughout their lives. If one didn't know better they might say it was an extraordinarily consistent and common battle injury, but unlike many I had the advantage of having owned a Pokedex.

A paper one, true, but perhaps that just made it more thorough, if a tad less useful when it came time to actually check up on things on the fly; it was more a study aid, though it didn't help much now, being unavailable to study. After all, wondering on the comparative strengths of a Pikachu vurses a Vulpix to a Voltorb was little more than idle thought if one couldn't actually flip through the pages anymore, they being literally a world away.

Although I still questioned it, I could only hold conjecture as to how and why such a... vigorous population of mammals could survive in such a relatively small environment; obviously the power plant was drawing them, but could it be sustaining them as well?

Still, when asked, Altair was happy to show me the food that was available, which led to us being outside, not far from the building itself.

_'See? It's there!'_

Tilting my head curiously, I considered what Altair was showing me; the remnants of a garden long-forgotten were visible, showing lots of care in the past that now left equipment to be flung about randomly, long vines carrying large numbers of yellow-green fruits growing now more wild than tame, a large tree reaching for the sky not far away, orange fruits swaying proudly in the breeze.

At first I wondered how an unkempt garden, so obviously torn apart by critters looking for food, could grow so wildly and so well, but it didn't take me long to notice the garbage. It was strewn about everywhere, mostly likely never straying more than a few feet from where it had been originated; fruit seeds, skins, discarded leaves, lost and rotted fruits now too rancid to eat, and generally the waste of consumption for dozens of yards around simply _everywhere_, often hidden to the eye but visible to even a cursory sniff. And everywhere, new vines springing from the ground, discarded seeds taking root, mulch leeching vitamins to the ground, feces stinking and fertilizing at the same sniff. And the tree, tall and strong, had obviously matured enough that there were now more of it, smaller and flung as far as the Pikachu cared to carry its fruit before eating.

It helped that the ground was naturally saturated by the waters that still flowed not far away.

_'We shouldn't stay long, though, something might see us alone out here.'_ Leading by example, Altair dashed off to procure one of the large, curved yellow-green fruits, which he plucked and brought back to me, leaving some on the ground as he stuffed a pair into his mouth, making his cheeks puff out a bit before he started chewing.

I hardly noticed Altair's antics, though, too preoccupied with sudden melancholy. 'Of course I can't hold them, I can't even grasp things as well as a Pikachu can-' I turned my right paw a bit, so I could just see the blackish pads that red fur nearly hid entirely, 'These are made for walking, not holding or climbing, not like for a Pikachu, which climbs as well as it runs.' I sighed, biting the bullet to bite the fruit left for me; there weren't many, but if I wanted more I now knew where to find them.

I chewed for a moment, keeping Altair's reactions in the periphery of my vision as I did, 'Mmm, sweet. I think I would have preferred something Spicy, hot and intense, but Sweet's almost as nice... Just so long as it isn't bitter.' A sickly expression crossed my face for just a tic, and as I swallowed I tilted my head curiously again, 'I wonder what that means about my... nature?' Despite myself, I smiled, amused at my internal dialogue.

_'Isn't it good? So sweet, so good!'_ I giggled lightly as I watched Altair massage his cheeks, obviously immensely pleased at the taste; somehow I almost expected a Pikachu to enjoy sweet things, but to see the reaction was just... amusing, to say the least.

_'It's good, thank you. Is there anything spicy here?'_ I was almost ashamed to ask, but one never knew unless one asked, so asking couldn't hurt.

He laughed, _'Do you like hot things?'_ As I pouted, he started thinking, _'Maybe...'_

As I watched for a moment I swore I could see little balls of white vapor, congealing in a swirl about his head as he thought without apparent success, until finally he turned and ran off at a pace that I could just barely follow.

When we finally stopped it was in an area with light tree growth; VERY light tree growth, with a stand of perhaps ten or eleven trees no taller than a single-story house, which was still pretty large to my new perspective, though still small in my experience. In the center of the stand was a set of bushes, scraggly and worn, almost weary-looking yet with a look of defiance that almost made one want to shout for it not to give up, that living in the cruel world only made one stronger!

Altair hardly had to lead me to this one; just approaching it I got a teary sensation in my eyes akin to what someone smelling Jalapeno might experience, though exxagerated by my by-now more sensitive nose. "Vul Vul-Pix!" _'It smells good!'_

Altair smiled, though I could tell the smell wasn't so much to his liking as it was to mine, _'Do you like it?'_

Figuring that this was as much of an invitation as I would get, and knowing that I wouldn't have an answer until I tried it, I approached the bush inspecting one of the strange, green mini-pumpkin-ish fruits and bit down, feeling strange enough to not be using hands and nearly as much just for putting my eyes so close to pointy spines.

The texture was not unlike what I'd have expected the look of frozen milk to taste like, with splinters and shards throughout that squeezed and popped easily enough, providing a unique feel that I really had to search my mind for a parrallel to; but the flavor...

_'It's good... It's GOOD!'_ I nearly jumped around the clearing in my excitement, instead taking another bite, savoring every flavor I ever truly loved all jumbled into one package of intensity, acidic and powerful, nearly enough to make my tongue want to leap from its place, though for joy or pain none could tell. I could sense a sprinkle of tomato, a spritz of sharp orange, perhaps some granny-apple (the green kind), something I couldn't identify, and a bomb-load of hot and spicy with a touch of sour that left me with a watering mouth and, further, satisfied.

Looking back at my guide I found that our roles had been somehow reversed, with him looking bemused at my antics just as I had been at his moments before, _'Thank you, it was... very good.'_ I had wanted to say 'awesome', but somehow found that I couldn't think of the right way to say it; still, I was fairly sure that the wild grin that I could find no reason to supress would manage to convey the way I felt.

Altair laughed, apparently happy that I was happy, _'Are you full?'_

I blinked... 'Apparently so, now that I think of it...' I looked at myself, grinning at the irony of being even mildly surprised, 'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; new body, new stomach, new appetite; nice to know my tastes haven't changed too much.' "Vul!" I nodded and followed as Altair took me on a quick tour of the area outside the 'nest place'.

Not that there was much to see, but it was nice to get out and about, if only for some fresh air to allow me to think.

The feeling that this was a dream persisted, for a time; after all there was only one place where Pikachu ran around, happily pointing at various interesting rocks and small plants that smelled funny, squeaking with that common call of a Pikachu that was so disturbingly familiar that I could almost have sworn that I'd walked into a Television set.

Because that was where Pikachu belonged: In a television, on the screen, playing with other Pokemon and blasting off brilliant shows of yellow light which might or might-not cause epilepsy in small japanese children, or perhaps less vividly on the screen of a video-game, making meaningless noises and using 'Thundershock!' on hapless Pidgeotto.

It certainly didn't belong right in front of me, as often as I'd fantasized such a thing it still felt strange, though perhaps not so strange as suddenly being four-legged. Or furry, let alone well-groomed. How did something like that even happen? Being well-groomed I mean; I was fairly sure that most Vulpix, reportedly, took pride in their appearance, but I'd hardly even had this BODY for a few minutes, and indeed as time went on it got more mussed and less spectacular; a groomed appearance wasn't really NATURAL. But what did that mean? And why Vulpix in the first place? Although, in that case, why not? If not human, what else? Vulpix was admittedly a world better than Koffing, or Ekans, or even the Magnemite that always floated so listlessly overhead.

I shivered a bit as some possibilities, even likelihoods presented themselves, and some of my conclusions, presumptuous as they were... I could NOT be a Koffing! Even to think it was... Ugh! No way!

_'Is something wrong?'_

Looking up, I found that my thoughts were seemingly somewhat transparent, but I smiled reassuringly, _'No, I'm okay!'_

"Piiiikaaaa!!"

I turned to see a small bunch of Pikachu advancing on our location, each one smiling playfully, running and tackling first Altair and then each-other, leaving me somewhat entertained at their antics until Altair turned bright eyes to me, _'Wanna play?'_

"vul? Vul!" I was then brought into the dogpile, becoming the first canine therein and quickly finding the tossing about to not be unpleasant; when the bundle of fur opened enough to get back on my feet I was grinning and carrying on nearly as much as the rodents across from me...

That is... until I noticed that I now had five Pikachu... looking at me with grins planted on their faces...

_'Huh?'_ "Pix! Pihihihihixixix! Vulpixvul!" And I laughed, rather helplessly at the combined assault of five very well-executed Tickle Attacks.

Suddenly Altair broke off with another male, both of whom had smirks on their faces as they suddenly blasted each-other with the first true electrical attacks I'd seen since arriving; at first I'd worried that they were fighting, but soon the other three Pikachu joined in and within moments there was a snarling fur-ball of twisting yellow fur and flying electricity.

I wasn't too keen on joining in with an electrical game like that, being of the wrong type, so stayed out of it.

It did, however, make me think about finding some fire-types... other Vulpix, specifically, if only to get more information about myself. Oh well, I wouldn't even know where to FIND other Vulpix, if I remembered right they weren't in the wild anywhere, they could only be bought or won... 'At the Game Center thingy, if I remember. Never did like that place.' (A/N: This is true only for Yellow version, the version I used to play.)

Shaking my head, I realized that, other fire-types or no, I still wanted to try these vaunted fire-type attacks I supposedly had.

I also had the strangest desire to hit things at full speed... hard, and repeatedly. Strange.

I stood, stretching my back and hind-quarters... then decided I would find someone to... play with. Preferably without electricity: I'd just gotten here, I didn't really feel like getting paralyzed so soon.

* * *

It seemed that the late afternoon was a time when most of the colony went outside for their various activities, including the Pichu who were especially fond of climbing on things, something which I found myself to be... not all that great at, at least compared to the little rodents, who seemed well-built for climbing. With their grabbing paws and sharp claws they practically RAN up the sides of what few trees were about, and their little bodies made for little resistance from gravity, whereas my paws were not designed for climbing, my claws of little use as I had trouble digging them into anything, and my body was relatively heavy.

Still, I humored the children for a time, then returned to the ground, where I instead spent some time running about for something to do, interestingly having a few races with some of the Pikachu... which I lost. Even the Pichu beat me! While not really humiliated, it was rather humbling; these guys had spent their whole lives as they were, I hadn't even spent a whole _day_ on four paws... or paws at all, for that matter.

'I suppose that's why I wanted to run around in the first place; I'm okay walking, but still a tad unsure on... my feet.'

Stomach grumbling, I decided to find that bush with the spicy fruits. It wasn't very hard, with how little territory there was around here, and when I found it I immediately approached, sniffing the green pumpkins curiously before biting down on one.

It was a few minutes later when Aik'sha found me, laying on my side with tears in my eyes and a silly grin on my face. "Vullllpix vul!" _'Ohhh yummy!'_

Aik'sha twitched her nose, apparently considering me, "Pichu pi? Ppichu?" _'You like it? Miss Fire-type?'_

Grin renewed, I rolled to my feet, _'Oh yeah! These things are great! Wonder what they're called?'_

Aik'sha giggled, running up to the bush before climbing it, actually grabbing onto the thorns for support before she grabbed one of the fruits with her mouth, tumbling to the ground and rolling to a standing position, hard-won gain still in her mouth, "Pffchu!" _'Mfffoo!'_ She bit off a chunk, chewing it before swallowing, shivering happily as light sparking came from her cheeks. _'Yummy! Right?'_

I nodded with a smile, laying down as I watched the little Pichu make long, but fun work of her meal, perhaps not celebrating as much as I had but obviously happy nonetheless. "Pichupi!" _'Yummy!'_ I smiled and she hopped my way, _'Wanna explore?'_

I tilted my head, _'Explore where?'_

The little Pichu hopped away a few feet, then waved me over to follow her, _'This way!'_

I followed her, managing somehow to keep up as we approached a spot just south of the generator building where a landslide had apparently occured somewhen in the past, large boulders laying about; _'Lookit! See?'_

I considered the landscape, _'See what?'_

_'We can climb here! See?'_ She pointed at the nearby cliff face, then matched action to words and hopped atop a nearby boulder, hopping to another one soon there-after, quickly making her way up using the rubble before turning around and waving back at me, _'See? It's fun!'_

I didn't think it seemed all that wise to be going up there, _'Come back down! What if the rocks move!?'_

_'Then I'll shock them! I'm really strong! See?'_ "Piii!" Without even any time to think the little one grinned and zapped some poor, unsuspecting boulder, which fortunately didn't move. She smiled, _'See? It barely hurt!'_

I could tell that her smile was slightly strained, but now I had a new worry, _'What if that had been a Graveller! It would squash you!'_

She got to all fours to look down at me better, smile plastered in place, _'You worry too much! I'm the strongest Pichu in the colony! Now come on slowpoke!'_

I was about to argue some more when I noticed... something, and by some cue I didn't consciously understand, looked up. 'What's that?'

"Pichu?" Aik'sha apparently noticed the attention I was paying the sky and looked up herself, _'Spearow!'_ On a level that didn't matter at the moment, I noted that there wasn't as much alarm in her voice as the situation probably warranted; there wasn't just a Spearow, or a couple Spearow, but at least a good hundred or so...

Some of them were diving... directly at Aik'sha. _'No! Stay away! Aik'sha get down!'_ Acting impulsively I ran to the falling chasm, taking a more direct route than the little Pichu had taken, trying to at least get closer to her.

"Pichu ppichu Pii!!" _'Go away, stupid birds!!'_ Aik'sha wave her arms, as though to shoo the attackers away. It didn't work, and when that became obvious the little baby Pokemon stretched out, "P-! Pichu piiPIIIII!!" _'Fine! Then take this!'_ She then curled up with some effort and lit up the sky with a shock at least as strong as what I'd seen the Pikachu using before, hitting the lead Spearow with an attack that actually jumped to some of the ones close-by, stunning three and making five stop their attack, though that still left... a few coming at her, which she quickly zapped as well, knocking two away and making three rethink their attack.

I had to admit, for such a little mouse she was doing rather well; electricity had a distinct advantage over flying types, but even so she was... rather outnumbered and some got past her, knocking her backwards a bit; she quickly recovered her footing and I was pushed to go a bit faster, putting even more effort into my mostly-useless climbing.

Egads, shouldn't I have been able to jump the distance there in, like, two hops!?

Aik'sha stood up on shaky legs, _'I'm not done yet! Super ThunderSHOOOCK!'_ "CHUUUUUU!!" In one last attack she pumped out nearly thrice the energy she'd put out in any of her previous attacks, actually dropping one of the birds to the ground and driving the rest to back off. _'Gotcha! Stupid birrrr-'_ With an audible thump, the little female fell face-first on the ground, _'Owiiiee...'_

Just as I was making it to her level, some more Spearow had noticed that the little baby had stopped attacking and decided to capitalize on the weakness, turning back for another go at a quick meal. _'Back off!'_ They paid me little heed, though, as I covered the child with my tails protectively, continuing to dive until, at the last moment, I kicked her beneath me and at least three of the persuers dove right through my tails, slamming directly into the stone below, three more staying in the air around us, squawking wildly. _'Grab on!'_

As adrenaline rushed through my veins I scowled angrily at the birds around me, waiting impatiently for Aik'sha to get a grip on my fur before I turned and ran, three birds in hot pursuit and gaining fast, now seemingly as intent on me as on my rider, the stunned three already shaking their heads and more coming from the sky at a good clip; the bloodrush was giving me energy I hadn't had before and this time I _did_ make it to the ground in only a couple convenient hops, though I hardly registered this as I took hits to my flank and tails as they clawed and pecked at me incessantly. I was on the ground and running back to where the rest of the colony was, marked easily by a series of energetic lightning bolts that put Aik'sha's efforts to shame passing through the sky, when Aik'sha decided she had at least a little bit of fighting spirit left and let out a weak, unfocused zap that sent the closest three Spearow flying... and sent me twitching to the ground. 'Ah, ow! I said I didn't wanna feel that just yet!' Biting through the pain and possible paralysis, I got to my feet and kept running.

Though the near-ground ones had flown off, there were now even more dive-bombing us, several from the back and a few from the front, 'Not good! Shoot, run AT them!' Throwing my head around and instinctively maneuvering myself to give Aik'sha the easiest time of staying attached, I ran directly at, and through a wave of beaks and claws coming at us from behind, severely throwing off their aim as most of them overshot us, actually creating a wave of obstacles that made most of the Spearow coming from the other direction break off their attacks, but at the same time creating big mess between us and the rest of the colony, 'Shoot! Not good!' Hoping for a miracle, I tried using fire to attack them from a distance, but for some reason couldn't make any come out; I _knew_ it was there, I just couldn't figure out how to make it come _out_! 'Man, I knew I should have tried it earlier than this! Now what!?'

With little choice, I simply did my best; dodging and running away, trying a random kick and waving my tails like mad, even ducking behind some random rocks big enough to provide shelter. By some strange windfall one of those rocks just happened to be a Geodude, who then attacked the Spearow that had ran into him by throwing other rocks up at them, actually sending a few of them to the ground as I did my best to make use of the lucky break, running through an opening in the flock created by the rock-type's thrashing, managing to get out of range just as he exploded in apparent rage, taking several more birds out of the picture as well as knocking himself out.

Unfortunately for me I had turned my attention away from where I was going when the Geodude had exploded, and when I turned back I got an almighty _THWACK!_ as a Spearow ran headlong into my face, actually knocking me sideways and stunning me greatly.

As I sat there I heard more squawking and even felt a few scratches, though all the pain did was to serve to stoke my anger at them, making me yell out, "VULPIXVUUULLL!!" I was surprised to see flames coming from my mouth, but at this point they did little good as I was surrounded and coming to be in rather a lot of pain, even through the haze of adrenaline. 'This sucks!' Yelling some more, I threw more and more fire in the air, doing what I could despite knowing that it wasn't much.

Then the sky gave an incredible **_LURCH_** as the very ground seemed to explode around me, lighting up my entire field of view and creating a crack so loud that I'd hardly realized I'd even heard it.

Around me there suddenly lay a dozen or so knocked-out birds, and when I looked I saw a male Raichu that I didn't recognize smiling and approaching me.

Breathing hard, I said the only thing I could, _'Thank you!'_

The Raichu didn't say anything, instead taking Aik'sha in his mouth and gesturing with his arm for me to follow before taking off on all fours, thankfully slowly enough that I could just manage to keep up on shaky legs. For the first time I was glad that I had four of them, since in the state I was in I'd have never been able to handle just two.

* * *

They say that pain lets you know you're alive, and at that moment I could unequivocably tell that I was most certainly alive, there was far too much pain to be otherwise. Yet at the same time, though I recognized the pain, it somehow didn't seem all that important; it _was_ important, now that there was no fighting going on, but even now it was hard for me to understand the pain as anything more than my body telling me I was injured.

Altair approached me where I lay, quite literally licking my wounds (I always licked my wounds, I love the taste of my own blood, but somehow it seemed even more important now); he had some of the strange yellow fruits with green hooks on their end, which he handed to me, _'Eat these, you'll feel better.'_

I looked at them; they were the sweet berries from earlier. With all the exertion I realized that I was hungry and the pain somehow made food all the more appealing, so I nodded as I took one of the things in mouth, chewing at the sweetness before I swallowed.

With a deep breath I felt a wave of relief sweep over me; he wasn't kidding when he said it would make me feel better! 'Those must be the kind that restore HP... wow, I have HP.' Shaking off the silliness of my thoughts, I looked Altair in the eye with an appreciative look, _'Thank you.'_

Altair smiled, _'Do you want another? You look really beat up.'_

I considered... then gave in; I couldn't pretend that I didn't need it, I was in too much pain; as unimportant as it seemed it was still a detriment. I nodded and took another as I thought back on the attack from earlier.

Apparently the Spearow would come by this area just a few times a year, usually in the changing seasons, sometimes timing their arrival with when there were only a few Pikachu outside, in which case there would be fewer Pikachu at the end of the day, though sometimes they would show up just as the whole colony was outside, as had happened earlier, and in such a case only one, maybe two if seperated from the others would be picked off and carried away. Apparently this place wasn't as danger-free as I had at first thought; because of Aik'sha's boldness I had thought that she didn't know much danger, but it turned out that she was simply that brave and bold. She indeed had a stronger attack than any of the other Pichu, being nearly as strong as a weaker Pikachu in that area; that seemed to embolden her, though the elders were quick to point out that she was still small and had little in the way of endurance, and that the power of a Pikachu was of little use if half of it went through your own body.

I generally had to agree, though in my own mind I had to wonder just what Aik'sha would become once she'd evolved: If she had the power of a Pikachu as a Pichu, what sort of power would she have as a Pikachu? Or a Raichu for that matter, it was a matter that I simply would have loved to see the answer to.

Though I also wondered if her strength might have simply been an indication that she was close to evolving. Curious.

Without even thinking of it, something occured to me, _'Altair, is it safe to go outside?'_

Altair tilted his head, _'I guess, but it will be dark soon and the night things will be out.'_

I thought, _'Then perhaps you could come with me?'_

He smiled at this, nervously pulling on one of his ears before answering by getting on all fours with a nod, urging me to take cue to do the same, and we were off.

* * *

I was looking out, over the water... the water that was already reflecting starlight, though not stars. It was fresh mountain water, coming from a waterfall that was just a short swim upstream, though I wasn't exactly keen on that idea. If my suspicion was right this river should curve around, take a turn to the west, then go north near a town and empty into the sea to the east. Of course, such things were niether needed nor important at the moment.

_'Why did you want to come here?'_

I looked from the water to my current companion, a male Pikachu named Altair who just so happened to have been the first Pokemon I had ever seen. _'I need to do something, but to do that I can't be in the nest; it's too busy in there.'_

He tilted his head curiously, _'Like... Practicing?'_ He smiled an interesting, ever-so-ready smile that seemed to radiate at the prospect of a play battle.

I had to disappoint, shaking my head, _'Sorry, not that, though I probably will want to when the sun rises.'_ 'Huh, no one word for morning; though I suppose I could be missing a lot. I imagine having a language forced into your skull could leave a lot of gaps.' Disregarding his expression, I looked back over the water, _'I'm going to be doing something very quiet, but if something goes wrong I could hurt somebody.'_ Mind it.

"Pika?" _'What?'_ Mind it.

I smiled, _'Nothing very interesting. But if you notice danger, let me know please?'_ Mind it, mind it, mind it.

Altair's expression said that he didn't understand, but he nodded anyway, followed by him rolling onto his side to lay there relatively quietly. Mind, it, mind, it...

Seeing this, I smiled again; he didn't have a clue what I was already doing.

Mind. It. Mind. It.

If one were to look closely enough, they might have noticed my eyes already moving, ticking back and forth. Mind. It. They went right at Mind, left for It.

Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. What was I minding? It. Mind. It. I can't remember. Mind. It. Mind. It. Perhaps it was my goals. Mind. It. But they were many? It. Mind. It. Mind. So what was it? It. Mind. It. Mind. It.

Perhaps it was... Mind. It. _That._ It. Mind. It. Mind. It.

I didn't need the majority of my mind to be active to feel It. Mind. It. It was there, everywhere; piercing me, slicing me into innumerable pieces. Mind. It. But more than that... It. Mind. It. It was...

Mine-dit. Mine-dit. The words were running together. Mine-dit. Such was unavoidable... Min-dit. When one repeated them over and over enough. Mind-it. Min-dit. Mind-it. Mine-dit. Mined-it.

What did such a thing lead me to? Mind it. I didn't know. Mind it. It wasn't important. Mind. It. So long as I paid _IT_ mind. It. Mind. It.

Vul. Pix. Vul. Pix. I was chanting it now... Vul. Pix. Though if one understood... Vul. Pix. They would hear my true chant... Mind. It.

Finally, I noticed it. Mind. It. Mind. It. A strange, new pull. Mind. It. Mind. It was as I suspected. Mind. Impressive. Mind. It. Mind. It. Though not too much.

Mind. I would think on this later. It. Perhaps... It. Mind. After some training. Mind. It.

It's time to stop, now... Mind. It. Great. Mind. It. I can't stop again. It. Stupid chant. It. Comes so easily, it's hard to stop. Vul. Pix. What was Altair doing? Mind. It. He was probably bored. It. Mind. Did he have any idea what I was doing? Mind. It. Vul. Pix. Very. Strange. Vul. Pix. Mind. It.

It wasn't like a shout, nor a whisper. Mind. It. It was the ticking of a tock... It. Mind. Or rather, of a clock. Mind. It. Wonder if I could use Tick Tock? Tind. It't. Nope. It. Mind. Now this is getting annoying.

Time to get out! Mind. Stopit! It. And I touched _it_. It didn't touch back, was unaware... Tock. Clock. Duuu. Boh. Yatz. Korss. I'm done now.

'Sheesh, if that pull wasn't so cool to look at... no, don't go back. Stoppit.' Shaking my head to clear it, I looked to my right to find that Altair wasn't there. Rather, he was behind me, playing with Aik'sha, who apparently was hardly affected by our shared altercation earlier that day.

Standing up with a stretch, I turned to face the pair with an amused look, _'Aik'sha, what are you doing out here? The moon is out.'_ And full, too, making it all that easier to hunt for those that did so by night.

The two of them stopped rolling around, Aik'sha mostly seeming to try to wrestle the larger Pikachu into submission and said adult allowing her to do so, and afforded me suitably clueless expressions, Aik'sha answering, _'I wanted to see you, so I came here and you wouldn't talk to me so I was playing with this nice Pikachu, he's fun!'_

I chuckled lightly, suddenly fighting the urge to think about the fact that I was currently on all fours, _'I see, but isn't it dangerous out here in the dark?'_

She nodded vigorously, _'Uh-huh! But I can light it up, see?'_ "Chiuuu-" She curled up aggressively and sparks started coming from her cheeks, discharging just enough into the air to see a little better by. _'See?'_

I smiled as Altair took the little female in a standing grip that stopped her antics; he set her down and turned to me with a curious expression, _'What were you doing?'_

I considered for a moment, then told the truth, _'I was looking.'_ Though I didn't wish to say everything at once.

The both of them tilted their heads at this, _'Looking at what?'_ Altair said this just before Aik'sha added her own comment.

_'You were rocking your head funny, how could you see something like that?'_

I sighed, _'It's hard to explain, but I have to look at it; I can always see it, no matter where I am.'_

Aik'sha gasped, _'You must have really good eyes! Sometimes I can't even see my brothers if we're really far apart.'_

"Pi?" _'Huh?'_ Altair tilted his head, _'How can you see something from everywhere?'_ Approaching me on all fours, he sniffed me, as if looking for something, Aik'sha mimicking the move.

I sighed again, thinking for a few moments before responding, _'It's something that I can see everywhere, because of what it is; it's just very hard to look.'_

"Chu..." _'Oh...'_ Aik'sha stood, giving me a curious look as Altair seemed to be starting to lose interest, _'What is it?'_

I considered again. Then smiled, _'I don't really know, that's why I have to look at it.'_ Shaking my head with a laugh, I stood, _'Let's go back to the nest; outside is dark now and getting cold.'_

Aik'sha moved to walk beside me, Altair nodding his assent and moving to my other side. Aik'sha gave me a curious look, _'But aren't you a fire-type? How can you get cold?'_

I grinned, _'I don't know, but I know I can. Besides, I'm tired and sore from fighting, I'm ready to sleep.'_

Altair yawned widely, _'Oooh me too. Come on, I know a warm place!'_

I hardly got the time to realize that he'd started running before Altair was many feet ahead of me; I started running, Aik'sha just ahead of me.

None of us noticed small sparks of electricity sparkling about my tails before disappearing.

* * *

As I rested on the hard floor I allowed my mind to wander, as it often did. I didn't know what I was going to be thinking about, but what I finally ended up seeing in my mind was pictures, images, sounds... stories of the future and questions I would need to answer in time.

Would I ever meet another Vulpix? A Ninetails? I could see images of both species in my mind, and found the idea alluring, but I also knew that Vulpix were relatively rare...

How much of the world would I see? And how would I go about seeing it? Would I get caught by a trainer? Would I instead find a trainer I liked and get them to capture me? Or would I somehow simply wander the world on my own? Honestly I was fairly sure that my, ultimately limited experience in the wild meant that, although I could adapt, wandering around aimlessly would be hard, dangerous, and ultimately fruitless. I would put too much effort into survival and not enough into exploration.

And then there was the fact that I had no idea how wild Vulpix survived; sure, I could hope that some form of much-well-aligned 'instincts' would kick in, practically forcing me to live as a Vulpix would. However, I didn't think I could count on that, I wouldn't even know what was real instinct and what was hope and conjecture. Humans just weren't very good at listening to their instincts, no matter how strong, what made me think I would be any different? Even though I was no longer human.

Sleep overcame me, and I dreamed strange dreams. She was happy.

* * *

**End Chapter 1**

* * *

As I said before, much of the inspiration for this story came not through what I've read or heard, but rather much of it came through adapting a story that I wrote many, many years ago. Although no-one but myself will likely ever see it, 'The Wrong Way' had some fifty chapters written in my cursive scrawl, on some hundred-plus pieces of line-rule paper, all of which is still stuffed away in a safe-keeping place. Although only four chapters ever made it to Fanfiction-dot-net, I still revere it as my original pride-and-joy, holding it upon a pedestal above all others.

Unfortunately, much of my style has changed since then, and I've come to realize that my attention span is such that I would never, ever be able to transcribe all fifty-some chapters onto my computer. As such, unless I can manage to either decide to do just that or in some other way manage to get it accomplished, it will remain in its current form: Written in cursive and brazenly unfinished. Which makes me cry, the canyon arc was too priceless not to share! Waaah!

At any rate, when I came to the Pokemon section, looking up some Mew stories (because I'd come to like Mew), I chanced across one by Fragmented Disillusionment, which then led me to Minor Miscalculations, one of the two impetus fics for the drive to write this one, the other being the fic that inspired MM called 'Just Your Average Pika'. At that point I found myself wanting to get The Wrong Way going again, but just couldn't bring myself to do so. Rather, I decided to leave old fics be and start a new one with much of the original soul intact. The biggest changes between that fic and this one are two: First, I couldn't really wrap my mind around Nidoran as a main character, so I scrapped it and searched my Pokedex for a suitable replacement; I refused to pick Pikachu simply out of principle. It was tempting to do so, which was the exact reason I refused it, I wanted something that would be more difficult to adapt to without being too 'out there'; when I chanced across Vulpix it was like a light blinked on and I loved it immediately. The other most major change is that, where Nido was caught and had a trainer right away (much of the story revolving around the relationship between the two), Sari has yet to be caught and won't have a trainer for quite some time. The method of entry is also different, displaying at least some of the ways that my style has changed over the years.

On another note: This story and the universe herewithin is most decidedly NOT intended to be connected to the universe with which FD and RR's stories take place, and probably never will be. Cameos could become possible, I suppose, but only at the behest of the owner of the characters involved, and honestly I don't even see THAT happening in any logical fashion. In an Omake possibly, but again only at the characters' owners' behest.

And finally: I think I'll try to get one chapter out roughly each week, if I can. It takes a lot of time to write a chapter, and I typically spend at least as much time editing and perfecting them, but I'd really like it if I could make that as a goal and keep to it. We'll see how well that goes. Ne? V

Alex Ultra: Crazy Hazy Lazy!  
LATER


	2. Chapter 2

Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Well, it's Tuesday, one week since I introduced chapter one, and as promised here's Chapter 2.

Edit: A minor (repeat: Minor) change was made in this chapter. Indeed, it's only a change of some ten words with little difference at a whole. XD Guess that makes this at version one-point-one.

* * *

**Vulpine Times Chapter 2**

* * *

I stared blankly at the screen. Upon it were four animals of varying sizes and look. In my corner at the bottom left were a Pichu on the left and a Vulpix on the right, both female. In the upper right were a pair of Spearow, standing there motionless.

Pichu used Thundershock! It's super effective! The enemy wild Spearow fainted. Wild Spearow joins the fight. Wild Spearow used Peck! It's not very effective. Vulpix used Tail Wag! The enemy wild Spearow's defense fell.

Pichu used Thundershock! It's super effective! The enemy wild Spearow fainted. Wild Spearow joins the fight. Wild Spearow used Peck! It's not very effective. Vulpix used Tackle!

Pichu used Thundershock! Yet another Spearow fainted, and as useless as that Vulpix was turning about to be, this fight shouldn't last long; it wouldn't take Pichu long to go through six Spearow, right?

They kept coming, though, and though the fighting experience made Vulpix stronger every few moments, it wasn't enough, she couldn't drop them like Pichu could. And then, the fifth Spearow fainted, leaving only the sixth... but then another joined in.

And another. And another. At ten, Pichu had had it, fainting from relatively small damage repeated continuously, and Vulpix was left alone.

Vulpix had dropped a few, but was nearly out of it herself when I found myself getting frustrated; there was no backup, why couldn't I choose someone else to join the fight? The Spearow got to have infinite backup but I was left standing there alone!?

"Stupid game!" With a snort, I put it down for a moment, intending to cool off. The Spearow wouldn't have that, either, coming out of the screen to screech angrily, clawing at the startled look in my eyes, not intimidated one bit by my size. "Agh! Stupid birds!"

I heard a scream- squeak? I searched for it and found a little yellow ball being attacked by a bunch of birds, one of them pulling on her tail 'Aik'sha!' Acting quickly, I scooped up the furball and dashed out of my room, closing the door behind me to keep the wild birds at bay for a moment.

Suddenly I smacked myself on the forehead, why hadn't I tried running away earlier? Or using a potion? Had I simply been too stupid to think of it? But then I thought and nodded; the Run and Bag buttons had been disabled. That was why I hadn't used them, there was no running and there were no items.

I hardly noticed the switch to four-legged locomotion as I made my way up the stairs, while at the same time I didn't question that their size had not changed; rather, I was more distracted by the enraged screaming that now was coming from behind me. They'd escaped! Stupid construction, they probably found that hole in my closet!

Frustrated now, I dashed the rest of the way upstairs, hardly even noticing the door as I made my way outside. 'Stupid birds! Is this going to happen every time I walk through tall grass? I don't wanna play this game anymore!'

There were more outside, and as I ran through the grass, past familiar boulders as confused people wondered what the heck was going on, I found that there was no way around it; I needed help, I couldn't get out of this on my own. But where would I get it?

"Piix!!" Suddenly I shot awake, my eyes wide and heart beating; there was something on my shoulder! "Pix!" Instinctively I pushed myself away, jerking quickly and nearly running into a Pikachu that had been laying behind me. Unfortunately it was too dark, without enough light filtering down to where we were to allow me to immediately tell what had touched me awake.

"Pipichu?" It was Altair, my nose told me that now, though I still couldn't see his face. He was asking if I was okay, and I sighed, shaking as I collapsed to the floor again. I wasn't used to having such intensely frightening dreams, and as I sat there, I was realizing that I was happy to have the strange ability to remember my dreams: I always listen to my dreams, and remembering them is an important part of listening to them. I wouldn't have been here if not for that, though I might also have not nearly died a few hours ago.

If not for my dreams, I'd be much safer, but I'd also be quite bored; I always loved dreaming in technicolor, be it about mermaids taking over the world or advice on how I should conduct my life, my dreams always came in vivid, glowing shades of red, yellow, green, blue, gray... almost cartoon-like in their power, and sometimes I still found myself thinking about that adventure that started in the desert and took me across the world in search of the six demons and the gods that could seal them...

All these thoughts flashed across my mind as I tried to settle my heart, nodding my head as images from my dream flashed back, unbidden to my mind's eye. _'I... was remembering the fight earlier.'_ In my heart, I almost felt a pang of regret for having been woken; I didn't get to see how it would end, but that was alright, I knew how it ended. I owed a debt to that Raichu that I could never repay. _'Altair, that Raichu that helped me earlier, what was his name?'_

Altair 'piii'd in thought, causing my mind to supply an image of him with arms crossed before he answered, _'That was our colony's eldest and strongest; his name is Zapam, I think. His human left him here with us when I was very little, barely hatched.'_ Altair was speaking quietly, so as not to awaken the others, though his laugh was just as audible, _'I think only Zapdos is stronger! Zapam is so very strong!'_

I smiled at Altair's enthusiasm, _'I wonder if he will talk with me later, I'd like to thank him.'_

Altair audibly curled up, yawning with a soft "Chaaaa.." before muttering sleepily, _'Maybe, I think you're interesting, why wouldn't he?'_

I smiled softly before yawning quietly myself and setting my head down once more. I had some trouble getting to sleep, my mind rushing through the interrupted dream and how it meshed with my current situation.

What it all came down to was one line: It's not a game anymore.

I think I would have preferred dotHACK, at least I would have kept my opposable thumbs.

* * *

It was very early when I rose, so early that the sun had yet to grace the land with light, caressing the clouds with a quiet radiance that made them glow just brightly enough to signal the morning, but not enough to banish the gloom of night. It was also a moist morning, of which my paws took note as each dab of moisture gave me a quick jab of pain before my body heat caused it to quickly evaporate.

Strangely, despite the bother that the water was giving my paws, I still found myself thirsty. I supposed that, fire-type or no, water was still likely the core of the chemical processes that made my body work, the suspending chemical that allowed sugars and enzymes to find each-other and react. I wondered, though, how much would be too much, and whether it would be alright to drink from the river or if it would be safer to get my moisture from my food.

'Well, no way of knowing unless I try. Just a little bit to start.' And with that thought I trotted to the water's edge and stuck my head over the clear water; apparently the river wasn't long enough at this point to have picked up much in the way of contaminants, not that there was a whole lot of choice in the matter, so I did the only thing I could think of.

When I stuck my muzzle into the water there was a distinct shock of pain, much sharper than I'd been having walking through the wet grass, though it did eventually fade as I held my face in the cool water; it was not unlike sticking a cold foot into hot water, painful but therapeutic and the skin would adapt quickly.

After an experimental sip I downed a gulp or two of the stuff, noting with curiosity that my mouth and throat didn't burn as my jaw had.

As I finished I found myself curious. Did water really hurt that much? Looking at it, it seemed so harmless, and I had literally just drank it down, would it really...? I was so entranced by the idea... I had to try it out.

The pained yipping that resulted from me sticking a paw into the water was enough to start someone laughing, and when I turned my eyes to him I realized that it was Zapam, the Raichu from the night before. _'Uh, good morning.'_

The large Raichu smiled down at me, his mirth remaining still, _'Is it not to your liking? Will you not be swimming with us then?'_

I cringed, though at the same time I was intrigued; the stinging in my paw was fading quickly, perhaps that one guy with the Sandshrew had something there. Still... _'Perhaps not. Fire and Water don't like each other.'_

He smiled, but rather than coming up with something else to say he instead stuck his face, the whole dang thing, into the cold water and, at least I assume, drank his fill before standing up, holding his belly with a satisfied sigh. I decided to speak up, _'I wanted to thank you... for helping me yesterday.'_

His smile remained, as though plastered permenantly to his face, though he did not laugh, instead speaking in what was, for a 'chu, a rather monotone voice, _'You were saving one of our children, the others are happy for that. I saw her electric in the sky and came to save her, I didn't see your fire until I was close.'_

I cringed, knowing that there was more than one reason he'd only seen fire when he got close, not the least of which being that I hadn't even used fire until the last few moments. _'Still, I'm alive because you were there.'_ He didn't seem apt to take too much from this, so I changed the subject to something that, while still related, was different from the previous one, _'You're also very strong. Altair tells me you're the strongest here.'_

Zapam's grin widened and he adopted the pose of a bodybuilder proud of his physique, _'I am very strong! I wake early every day to train, just as my human taught me when I was small.'_ He calmed down for a moment before looking at me with curiosity, his face and ears tilted, though his neck made it hard to tell, _'Are you here for training too?'_

I smiled, a thrill of excitement shooting through my spine as I nodded, _'Would you help me? I've never trained on my own before, I'm not sure I know how.'_

He held his smile as he sniffed me curiously, I allowing him to do so, wondering what he would do, _'You're young.'_ He backed up as I gave him a curious look, _'Not a Pichu, but for a Vulpix very young. I can help you, but I do not know any fire.'_

I took this information in for a moment, just how young was I? Still, that didn't matter, what mattered was that I get stronger; my dream from the night before came unbidden back to the forefront of my thoughts and I approached him eagerly, _'Any training will do, I just need to get stronger!'_

His grin widened just a tic a moment or two before electricity sparked from his cheeks and I found myself in pain. "Pix!" Just as quickly as it started it was over, leaving me to shake my head clear of the second major shock in as many days; though this one had been much stronger than Aik'sha's desperate attack, I was much healthier and Zapam hadn't put much effort into it. It still hurt, though.

_'Now attack me, don't worry about hurting me.'_

I looked at him, for just a split second puzzled about what I should do, but I quickly decided to just bull my way into this and did the simplest thing I could think of: I tackled him.

Or I tried, as he used those thick, powerful arms of his to stop my attack entirely and throw me back, sending my tails into the water whence I leapt forward with a yelp. Instinctively I took the pain to help me, using it to stoke my fire, which I quickly launched at the Raichu that had hurt me.

Zapam's cheeks sparked, and just a moment before my flames would have hit him I saw the electricity surge in an arc before him, stopping the fire and sending it out to the sides, where it failed to hurt much of anything. 'Reflect?'

I'd hardly stopped breathing fire when Zapam had cleared the distance between us and lashed at me with his tail, sending me sprawling, where I struggled my way back to four feet before launching more fire.

He was holding back on me, I knew he was; that attack the night before had caused the ground around me to nearly explode with the force of the hit, where what he was doing now seemed much more like light love-taps than anything. But going easy or not, that didn't change the fact that within only a few seconds he'd attacked me three times and sent me flying twice, where I'd not even landed a hit. I had a long way to go, but the pain reminded me that it was real. I wasn't going to quit.

Inside ten minutes I'd had enough. After twenty minutes I couldn't feel my legs anymore, and not long after that I was numb all over, and I'd STILL failed to land a hit!

As I lay there, huffing heavily from exhaustion and feeling the pain of electricity and morning dew over my entire body, Zapam slowly approached, _'You're finished; rest for a while. We can continue in the next morning.'_

I huffed some more, trying to come up with something to say, but failing. My mind was so involved in its lack of oxygen that I could come up with nothing to think about, nothing to occupy my thoughts, and for me that was a strange feeling. 'At least I know that "morning" is a word to them now.'

He said nothing, but a few seconds later I heard some Pikachu coming out, and even noticed Aik'sha's voice among them, and soon Zapam was fighting with five Pikachu and an unusually strong Pichu all at the same time. And winning. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad about losing like that.

A few minutes into their play-fighting I had rested enough to feel myself again, and rolled myself to a laying position from which I could watch the fight of the 'chu's.

Interestingly, in this fight, despite hurting herself every time she used her electricity, Aik'sha actually lasted longer than I had. Perhaps she was more used to such fights, or perhaps being on a team allowed her to do better than otherwise, but in me it only reinforced to my mind just how far I had yet to go.

As the fight was winding down I noticed another approaching from behind... and a rather alluring smell. I was noticing that I was hungry, and that smell reinforced that even more.

I looked to my right to see Altair approaching, carrying in his mouth something that I found myself almost surprised to see: A roasted Magikarp.

He set the unfortunate fish on the ground beside me, and I gave it a surprised, almost confused look, so Altair decided to encourage me, _'You're hungry, right? These are very good! And easy to catch, too! The water is full of them!'_

Shaking my head, I realized that my hunger was pretty much forcing me to do something I never would have thought of, and I followed Altair's example by taking off a chunk of the fish's flank, pulling with my mouth and paw before chewing it and swallowing.

As I ate Altair smiled and went off back to the water, where he quickly shocked another splashy fish into unconsciousness, then to death, continuing until it had been lightly toasted. He brought his meal to where I was enjoying the one he gave me and started in on it as well.

It was obvious to me, as I'd often wondered, that Pikachu were meat eaters, or at least omnivores. Unlike their namesake, the common domestic mouse, Pikachu had powerful killing attacks and the confidence afforded to an animal that could do just that. And then there were the teeth; where mice had large incisors, good for chewing through hard things a little bit at a time, or soft things very quickly, these Pikachu had enlarged and very sharp Canines, the teeth of a predator. Their flashy coloring was a detriment to running away, and their strong personalities even more so.

Ratata screamed loudly and ran quickly, Pikachu greeted enemies with a wave and zapped them powerfully.

It was still a surprise, though, to see a creature so reminiscient of the innocent, carefree image portrayed by Ash's Pikachu with a predator, but then, the same could be said for the common housecat, or the domestic dog. Both were quiet, gentle house-goers, but in nature were merciless predators, killing and eating to live.

And I now understood how such a large population could live in such a small area. The power plant lured them here, but between the berries, fresh water, and the abundance of Magikarp (and presumably other water-bound life), there was more than enough here to count as almost a Pikachu haven, an eden just for them where no other, animal or Pokemon, was better suited.

There were advantages to being predators (or even scavengers) aside from the self-assurance that it would give those who were as such. Eating meat meant having plenty of protien, and protien drove the body's most important processes, and was the building block on which growth depended. Protien drove muscle growth and development, allowing predators to get very strong very quickly, but more than that Protien drove brain growth. Plant eaters that developed to eat meat almost always had an explosion of brain size, and predators on average had brains nearly three times the size of their herbivore prey.

And just as humans had, Pikachu seemed to have changed from a weak, probably plant-eating ancestor to this powerful, playful, excitable, and even dangerous predator, whose head and presumably brain took up a visible third of its body, and as a Pichu fully half. There was a rule, which those who studied evolution always kept in mind, and that was that the larger the brain was in relation to the rest of the body, the more intelligent the animal was.

And also like humans, Pikachu were similarly capable, and happy, to eat fruit. Why wouldn't they? Fruits had sugars, and sugar was a potent shot of energy that went straight to the veins, and the vitamins and minerals available only in plant life would make it so that forsaking fruits and veggies in lieu of meat just didn't make sense. 'Perhaps thats why Pikachu are so loved by humans, because they're so alike. It's almost scary, really, but Pikachu don't need to depend on spears and knives to do their killing, or fire for their cooking, they've got the natural weapons that humans lack.'

As I flipped my breakfast over to its other side, ignoring the holes where its eyes had exploded, I thought back with wonder. What happened to the Spearow that had fallen to the ground the other day? Had they, too, been consumed? Or had they been left where they were to wake back up and fly away? Well, unless I found them laying there still, or their skulls scattered about, I likely wouldn't know.

I licked the bones a bit, giving the tail fin a look as I considered eating some of the innards, yet at the same time disgusted by the idea, 'So I guess Pikachu won't be going off to make guns and tanks anytime soon, not unless their electricity became useless, and they're so specialized with that that if that happened they'd likely either grow larger or become plant-eaters to compensate.' I shook my head, 'They'd also be defenseless then. They can bite and scratch, but that does little good against a bird that can dive-bomb them. They'd adapt, but little would be left of the happy-go-lucky critters we've come to know.'

With a sigh I looked at Altair, considering him for a moment as he chewed. He noticed my attention as he pulled some meat from the bones of his meal, which now had nearly as little meat as my own, his fangs sunk deep into the flesh that pulled so easily with so little wasted effort. This to an animal so often compared with mice; really, they were more like cats or dogs, in both build and attitude- or perhaps both, a mix of man's favorite pets with a loyalty to match. _'Done?'_ Altair snapped me from my thoughts as he swallowed his latest bite.

I nodded, _'I'm not sure what to do with the rest, just leave it here?'_

Altair smiled, _'I'll help you take it to the water! The fishes like it when we do that, and they grow faster that way too!'_ Then he frowned, _'If we leave them out, Spearow will come, and Spearow are bad.'_ He stuck out his tongue before tearing off another chunk of meat, smiling as he chewed.

Acting on an impulse, I asked him to open his mouth for me. He did, but he still had meat in it and I actually revulsed, _'Swallow your food first! Please?'_

He did so, opening his mouth so I could get a look inside. What I found was a mouth remarkably like that of a human. Short, flat incisors for scooping at fruit like apples and berries, long, sharp canines, and crushing molars in the back that would make short work of meat and plant alike. Really, the only difference between the two was that the middle incisors were much larger, proportionately, than those of a human, though rather small in comparison to the super-enlarged canines, which were long, thin, and sharp. In fact, the thinness of them suggested that they only rarely saw a whole lot of force, and usually either simply latched on (for a zero-distance shock from the cheeks), drug dead prey (probably to feed the Pichu), or to pull cooked meat from the bones (cooked by the very shocks that had killed it).

The other remarkable thing was that it seemed that his mouth was actually relatively small, that his cheeks were in fact very thick and fatty, which made sense considering their use. On an impulse I stood up and touched one paw just behind his cheek, finding it to be remarkably soft and pliable. As he made confused noises, mouth forgotten, I kneaded further along to the back of his head, kneading with one paw at the base of his skull.

_'What are you doing?'_

I sat down, my exploration finished, _'I've never seen a Pikachu up close before. I was curious.'_

He tilted his head, _'But you saw me yesterday! Remember?'_

I laughed, bringing one paw up close to my mouth, _'I mean before that.'_

As Altair gave me confused, but ultimately not-too-curious looks, I moved back to where I'd been sitting before, that spot having dried off from my body-heat. My experimentation had revealed that he, indeed, had enlarged sacs that wrapped around the head, growing visibly thinner in the back, where they met with just barely a touch right at the back of the skull. For just a moment I wondered if, perhaps, they were also connected under or over the jaw, but I doubted it, as it wouldn't do to have them shorting themselves out all the time. I also found myself curious as to just how strongly those sacs were connected to their nervous system, or what sort of processes actually generated the energy and how it was stored, let alone released. I also conjectured that a Pichu's smaller body put more effort into generating the energy than insulating from it, which made sense; the human infant's body puts far more effort into developing and growing its brain, the one thing that allowed humans to survive in the wild, than into making the neck strong enough to support said brain. For the first year or so an infant's head needed constant support lest it bob around wildly, why wouldn't Pichu, whose electricity was its only real strength, be the same?

Altair finally finished his meal and stood up, _'Come on!'_ He then grabbed his leftovers by the tail and started dragging it, leaving a film of grease and pus from the still-intact innards as he went.

I followed him in much the same manner, ruminating on the seeming wastefulness. But I had to admit, without guarantees as to the quality of the preparatory cooking, there was simply too much risk in eating who-knew-what in the guts and stomach which, small as they were, could contain just about anything. Few predators ate those parts, usually leaving them for scavengers to pick at, though some with stronger stomachs would take those protien-rich organs as well.

Besides, the commotion that arose the very moment our leftovers hit the water made it clear: These fish Pokemon had no qualms about eating their dead, and didn't seem to be bothered by the picked-away state of the corpses.

Still, with the way my nerves were going it was as though I was expecting a Gyrados to pop out of the water and attack us for taking its young or something of the like. But then, considering that most of those that were feeding on our leftovers were other Magikarp, I somehow doubted that such would give these proceedings half a thought.

There was a Raichu in the water now, standing without moving in some of the shallower parts of the water. He wasn't moving, and as the fish swam around him, perhaps looking for a meal themselves, he suddenly released a wave of electricity with a shout, actually pushing some of the water away as though he'd exploded, sending electricity sparking at the water's edge and causing several of the creatures to twitch and float to the surface, consciousness having left their eyes. This was the second hunting method I'd seen the 'chu's use, and was even more effective, relying on raw power, of which Raichu had plenty. Altair had targeted a single fish that was near the surface, this Raichu had simply sent out a wave of energy that had stunned several of them from well beneath said surface.

He then used his tail to flip many of them to land, where some Pikachu were waiting with sparks in their own cheeks, which was released on whichever fish came closest to them.

'Selfless cooperation, doing things for others in the group without expecting anything in return.' I was amazed, but somehow not surprised, it was simply one more thing that made them human-like. A few of the Pikachu immediately ran off with their meals, running into the plant where they doubtless were going to feed the hungry young.

More sparking at the water's edge caught my attention, but the first Raichu had left the water now and was swinging his fur dry even as I watched. 'What now?'

Further down stream there was a group of Raichu, four of them that had spread out into the river and were sending a widespread, cumulative jolt of electricity into the water; the first Raichu had scared many fish, some of which had swam quickly downstream to a trap that was now being triggered, whence they were flipped to shore by the long-reaching tails of those same Raichu, who seemed to have spread out just to the width that they could cover with their tails.

They didn't cross the river, it was some... well, judging distance was hard at this size, I suppose, but they easily were able to bring about as much fish from the water as a team of fishermen with nets in the same amount of time.

'Remarkable.'

It took only a few minutes before the fireworks were over, and in that time most of the colony was now well-fed, including the Raichu who were now happily carrying their meals in forepaws that more resembled fists than feet or hands, yet apparently still had some of the dexterity they'd had as Pikachu.

I sat, transfixed for a few moments as I watched the colony eat breakfast, opening a new day as many of them happily munched away, some of them giving their meals a second or third zap as necessary (whether for cooking or to finish killing it), some of the doubtless higher-level Magikarp managed to wiggle their way back to the water, where they quickly disappeared, but on the whole all were fed and happy.

Altair considered the scene with me, pulling on his ear as though grooming it. I noticed this, and it suddenly made me self-conscious.

I hadn't given it much thought till now, but with blood from the night before and dirt and grass wedged into it with a mess of water and a moving fishy smell that would only get worse with time; I was a mess, and now that my mind was on it, my fur pulled strangely, sticking together oddly around my wounds, mussed just about everywhere; filthy filthy filthy!

I shivered a bit, shaking off the imagined attention that I wasn't even sure that I was getting, but couldn't help but feeling. _'I need to clean off.'_

He considered me with a tilt for a moment, then nodded, _'Okay! I'm going to check if the Pichu are awake yet!'_ And he ran off, heading for the nest from which he'd been born years ago.

This colony was large, having several nesting areas, one among the Raichu and several among the various groups of Pikachu, each well protected by the walls of the building and thus with little reason to clump them all together. Altair's nest currently had five Pichu, with two on the way, for a tenuous total of thirty Pichu colony-wide.

I quickly dismissed such thoughts, for the moment, though, as I turned to find an isolated corner where I could consider my problem, feeling sticky icky and sore the whole way.

* * *

It didn't take me long to find that grooming was a tedious process when one's whole body was covered in fur. Moreso when contact with cold water was painful, as I'd found when I tried it earlier. I'd managed to dissolve one clump of blood on my shoulder, at the expense of a few tears for the pain, but all that had even accomplished before the water evaporated was to thin the stuff out a bit.

'Oh what I wouldn't do for a trip to the groomers!'

Rather I was stuck using my mouth to accomplish my grooming, mostly using my teeth to try to brush contaminants from my fur, licking at what was too dried-in to be pulled out right away. It was hard, tedious work which I questioned the wisdom to, but for some reason I found myself responding to a vain streak that I'd hardly ever even noted before. Perhaps it was because I was a Vulpix? If I remembered right Vulpix were said to be vain, grooming themselves to perfection, and here I was, doing just that.

With my mouth. Oh the lengths I was going to. Bah.

'Stupid stick, get out!' I pulled a bit, but because it had lodged right along the middle of my back, actually getting caught between two of my tails, I wasn't able to even reach it properly. I could get close, in a feat of stretchability that I'd never before thought I'd have been able to do, but I couldn't actually reach it.

I growled, 'Dangit! Come out!' I tried again, but it remained stubbornly in place, and I was getting frustrated, _'STUPID!'_ "VUL!" I shouted at the stick, a puff of flame coming out with the word, though I hardly noticed the heat.

_'... oh...'_ Where the fire touched, my fur now had a light luster that it hadn't had before. The hairs had actually shrank, visible but ever-so-slight, loosening the stick which now even just _looked_ looser, no longer tangled. I reached back one more time and pulled it out a bit, giving the parts that stuck quick bouts of flame to loosen them, and within a few seconds my most vexing problem had been solved.

It made sense; most biological waste could be burned away, things like the fatty acids from my meal, sticks and leaves, even blood and animal waste could all be burned away with relative ease, leaving my body and fur, which were literally made to live at the edge of orange lava, wholly intact and even looking shiny and new!

With a grin I tried it out, and in a few minutes and several breaths of fire I was right as rain just about everywhere. My face still needed some attention, but most of me was feeling rather good! 'Hah! I'm just a little Phoenix, aren't I?' "Vul! Pix!" I practically glowed as I strutted around for a moment, noting with some interest that I had accidentally made a burned-out area of bald ground, at the edge of which stood a couple confused Pikachu that I just now noticed, along with Aik'sha, who seemed fascinated by what I was doing.

_'Yes? What is it?'_

Aik'sha stood, giving the area around me an experimental sniff, _'What are you doing? Why did you attack yourself?'_

I smiled, _'I was grooming, it made me feel much better!'_ I wagged my tails a bit, revelling in the feel of the wind through the nice, shiny, and now much thinner hair.

The Pikachu shrugged to each-other and left, their curiosity sated, though Aik'sha stayed with me. _'So what you gonna do now?'_

I thought, a smile on my face (I felt so good!), before responding with a smile, _'I think I'd like to run around in a circle for a while.'_

Aik'sha seemed puzzled for a bit, but then she smiled and made several fast, small circles, looking like she were chasing her tail, though she quickly got tired of that when she got dizzy, whence she lay on her back and stared dizzily at the sky. "Ppp-piiipichupiii..."

I giggled, lightly stepping over to the little girl with mirth in my eyes, smiling down at her as her eyes slowly stopped swirling. _'Dizzy?'_

She shook her head to clear it before she stood on all fours, looking up at me, _'I don't think I like that, it makes me dizzy.'_

I smiled, _'That's okay, I think a bigger circle would be more fun. Wanna come?'_ I backed up a step, then ran away a few feet, when I knew that Aik'sha was following I ran off.

* * *

After about an hour of running about aimlessly I'd grown tired and winded, and I finally found myself drawn to that patch of bare earth I'd made before, where I sprawled out helplessly, panting with the effort of just making it that far. Aik'sha, however, seemed to have boundless energy; even after an entire _hour_ of running around, her shorter legs making her move much, much faster than I had been, she was still on her feet and still ready to face the world, a glow in her eyes as she poked my nose with one claw. _'Done al-pant-ready?'_

I laughed, _'It's too cold pant-here, it hurts pant to breathe pant so hard!'_ I was panting, and the cold, wet air was indeed hurting my lungs, as though I were in a deep-freezer; if I breathed too deeply too quickly it literally hurt, though the burn in my legs, while tiring, actually felt good. But tiring... But good. And tiring. Indeed, the only reason I'd stopped was because the pain and tiring element in my legs had finally overwhelmed the good feelings... about ten minutes ago, and after just ten minutes my willpower had finally broken.

Aik'sha brushed her face, as though cleaning it, and then smiled brightly, _'Okay! I'll go play with my brothers!'_ She then ran off, yelling names I didn't recognize and acting REALLY hyperactive.

'Impressive; I wonder if a Vulpix in a volcano would have as much energy. How can she have so much energy anyway? My legs are more than twice as long as hers!' I sighed, gasping as I did, 'I must be out of shape.'

Activity level diminished, my mind was now being allowed to wander once more. This was another reason that physical activity suddenly had more appeal, since I knew that once I started thinking it would be hard to stop.

I was gasping, but at the same time I wasn't _panting_. Vulpix is a fox Pokemon, and foxes are canines; when canines get hot they pant, opening their mouths wide and breathing hard to evaporate moisture off their tongues and lower body temperature, extending their ability to continue activity. This was a behavior that allowed dogs, wolves and foxes to run for hours at a time without tiring or overheating, taking long, loping (even _lupine_) strides, often simply outlasting their prey.

But Vulpix was not those relations, and though similar, to force such behavior upon it would a grievous insult. Frankly, why should Vulpix pant? To lower its body temperature? Why would it want to? Its body temperature is well into the hundreds, even thousands of degrees, and is a part of its survival mechanism. And with such high temperatures, what good would evaporating a little water do anyway?

Besides, the idea of letting my tongue flop around hopelessly made me cringe at the indignity of it; I reasoned that no self-respecting Vulpix would do that, it was too silly!

Of course, I'd never met another Vulpix, so I couldn't speak for them, but the very idea of it just made me shiver; why spend so much time combing my fur and caring for my image, only to stick my tongue out and start drooling? Bleh.

So instead, I merely kept my mouth just open enough to take in the air I needed, and breathed only as hard as I needed to.

That mystery satisfactorily decided, I relaxed a bit, splaying my tails out on the ground behind me, laying my head down on my paws with a smile.

I didn't know why, but somehow with how tired I was I felt satisfied, as though I'd fulfilled an urge that was now rewarding me for having done so; perhaps this happened to all Pokemon, encouraging them to develop their physical prowess to prepare them for the cold, dangerous world that was just as willing to do much the same thing.

I didn't have the energy to puzzle on the apparent laziness of Snorlax, Slaking and the rock-types, however. The sun was bright, the ground dry, and with my tails splayed out like this I was picking up on the warmth of the day; with my body as tired as it was I was asleep in minutes, and not even aware it had happened.

* * *

'Is that it?' He looked down upon the scene. There was an entire colony of Pikachu, Pichu and Raichu below him, running about and keeping an eye on him; they would not attack him, because he was not attacking them, but their eyes were attuned to attacking over great distances, and like any archer their eyes were sharp. But they did not hold his attention.

He could still feel it, minor waves of energy radiating out and away from this place, still focussed on one individual who still remained in this place.

The place was inconsequential, only being where this... thing had happened.

His target was splayed out on the ground, a spot that had been dried up and burned out, with dry ground around her, picking up heat from her body and the sun enough that there was a slight shimmer in the air around her.

She looked comfortable, it would be a shame to interrupt her now. So he moved out of sight; no need to alarm the electric rodents, they had nothing to do with this.

* * *

When I finally reawoke I had no idea what time it was; it was bright daytime, but as to the hour I didn't have a clue, and thus hadn't the foggiest as to how long I'd been out.

Shaking my head, I wondered about the shimmering world around me; for a moment I was alarmed, why was it the Pikachu seemed to be wobbling? Was there something wrong with my eyes? Was I caught in some form of containment field?

Whatever was happening, I was comfortable, so not immediately alarmed. I stretched with a yawn, opening my muscles and feeling several pops among my joints as I shook myself awake, taking in that warmth that had lulled me to sleep as my mind did a full reboot.

Thoughts straight once more, I became curious as to the source of the strange shimmering, and it _was_ a shimmering... a shimmering I recognized. It was as though the day were hot and the concrete radiating enough heat to roast a ham, the waves of energy coming off the ground creating that ever-so-familiar shimmer.

But there was no concrete here? And really it only felt warm enough to, maybe, be some seventy or eighty degrees, not the hundred or so needed for such drastic shimmering!

"Pix?" Then I remembered myself, and looked down. The ground around me was even more baked dry now than it had been when I'd fallen asleep, and there was a slight, carried wind of cool air rushing toward me from the grass around the area, being warmed by... me.

I felt so comfortable, I really didn't want to leave this nice, warm blanket, this comforting enclosure that felt so nice, but with a shake I finally decided that I needed to do so, and stepped out.

The air outside of my bubble felt chilly by comparison, and I immediately shivered at the feel of it, but my fur did its job and the shivers lasted only for a moment of surprise, though it did elicit another couple yawns or so as I walked further into the clearing where the Pikachu seemed content to laze about in the sun as I had been.

I figured that, so long as they were in a group, they need not fear an attack from above. Why, a lone Pichu had dropped several Spearow just the day before, why should a large group of grown Pikachu fear them?

'Hmm, there's that thought again, I wonder if those Spearow are still there?' For a moment I wondered on the question; should I or shouldn't I go to see? It would only take a moment?

Finally, curiosity won out over caution, and I went to the scene; it wasn't all that far, mercifully, as I wasn't sure my bruised, abused muscles could carry a full-speed run for long, let alone fight properly. That nice rest had done wonders, but I wasn't quite fighting fit yet.

I rounded a corner, where a large boulder embedded in the soft ground at the water's edge marked a bend in said river, light foliage caressing the beach in a natural blind; sticking my head out I looked at where I remembered the last Spearow being dropped, quite forcefully, by Zapam's attack.

There were still some three Spearow laying there, obviously dead as their eyes had dried out, though the greater clue was that their bodies were currently being picked at by a group of curious Pidgey and a Pidgeotto.

Suddenly the Pidgeotto hopped at me, spreading her wings wide, _'These are ours! You can't have them!'_

I jumped back, _'I don't want them, you can have them!'_

The Pidgeotto seemed confused for a moment, but nodded, apparently satisfied, _'Fine.'_ But then she had second thoughts, _'You can't have my babies either!'_

I frowned at the insinuation, _'I don't want them either. I was just wondering if those things were still here.'_ Though I had to admit, something in my furry little heart told me I wouldn't mind a mouthful of feathers if the chips were down. The Spearow were scrawny, but Pidgey were much more plump...

I shook myself mentally. I liked Pidgey, I didn't _want_ to take them, why would I? I drew the line at Magikarp; the mindless fish didn't deserve it or anything like that but there was a difference between them and a flying type. If for no other reason than because birds were hard to catch and had too many feathers...

No! Bad Sari!

The Pidgeotto considered me for a moment, then hopped back away, _'Fine. But come no closer!'_ She flapped her wings a couple times, kicking up a little bit of sand and a small bit of gravel from under the grass.

I responded by sitting on my haunches as she turned to her babies, keeping an eye on them and me as well as she kept one eye pointed in my direction. I made no move toward them, and the young ones eventually relaxed under their mother's watchful gaze.

As they started pulling at one of their fallen cousin's wings I lost interest; I had my answer, I needed no more than that, and watching birds eating birds was boring.

After turning to walk away and trotting a few steps I was stopped by a chill wind, spurring me to sniff the air curiously. What was this? And that smell? A smell of... metal and glass?

How did glass even have a smell? It doesn't even evaporate! 'Wait, that has nothing to do with anything.'

Looking up, I saw a figure descending in a scene reminiscient of the Bad Guy (tm), descending from the Heavens to lay havoc and chaos upon the heads of the innocent.

They say that in the wild, you should never show fear, because showing fear is as good as showing weakness, inviting and even inciting attack. But in this case I didn't much care as I backed away, my tails perking as I lowered my head in an automatic reaction, _'Mewtwo.'_

* * *

**End Chapter 2**

* * *

Nope, I'm afraid I don't have much of a rant this time around. :P

Alex Ultra: Super Thunder SHOOOOOCK!  
LATER


	3. Chapter 3

Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

* * *

Quietly, almost silently he landed only a few feet from me, standing taller than my tails by a good foot, though in human terms that likely wasn't all that large.

It wasn't really his size that was intimidating, though; I'd seen that movie, I knew what he could do, and running would do no good.

Not that I wanted to run, but my body was certainly considering it. He was giving off truly frightening vibes.

He looked at me, his eyes hard, sharp, _judging_, **"What are you?"**

I froze, like a mouse at the sight of the eyes of a large snake; before me stood quite possibly the single most powerful BEING in this world. Before him I was a speck, a bit of dust to be brushed away, why would he even be giving me the time of day? Lest I had offended him somehow, angered him... _'I, I-I don't..'_

He narrowed his eyes and a refreshing jolt went through me; I shook my head, attempting to clear it. He'd asked a question, and I had an answer, _'I'm me, what else do I need to know?'_

He smiled, a smile not cruel, yet at the same time reminiscient of Vegeta's smile upon those he percieved as being beneath him; a tad warmer, but radiating the same confidence. It was still an improvement over the overwhelming, judging look. He crossed his arms, **"What did you do to be here?"**

His words echoed in my head, though my ears failed to hear them. At this message thoughts, flashes came, crashing unasked for to the front of my mind, and for a moment I curled, helpless as remembered, phantom pain coarsed through my very being, pulling at barely-healed seams, yet at the same time...

**"I see. I won't ask again then. But tell me, what are your intentions now that you are here?"**

Pain receding I found my mind, itself raw, instantly worn yet somehow calmer... and I thought, _'I'd like to explore, with a human maybe. I want to learn, grow, and...'_

**"And then you will leave once more."**

Something bothered me about that statement, but I nodded, I couldn't deny it; my intention was to leave. I did not know how long I would stay, but I would eventually overstay my welcome, and need to move on.

**"You're concerned of 'welcome' now?"**

He wasn't asking me to answer him, he was just prompting me with questions, then pulling the answers from my mind. I cooperated, bringing thoughts to mind of my purpose. I did not guard them, did not filter them.

**"I see. And you fear that you are not ready."**

_'I may never be, but I have to try.'_

He considered me for a moment, then spoke with that strange, echoing thought, **"You're right. They _will_ come. Out of curiosity, and a particular dislike for their kind, I will distract them for a time, but they saw your arrival just as I did, they will not be kept at bay forever."**

I cringed; I hadn't even been thinking about that, but I knew to what he was referring just the same. The 'Teams' never stay out of 'interesting' things for long. A strange pulse of energy was just the thing to capture their attentions.

Quietly, I thought for a moment, then spoke, _'I thank you for your help, but I ask, are there others?'_

**"Others like you?"** He smiled again, making it clear he knew the answer to his next question, but asked it to make me answer it anyway, **"Like you in what way?"**

I gulped, _'Other... former humans.'_

He laughed, a deep voice that was just like I'd imagined, though he quickly calmed, **"I know a few, so yes. And yes, some live with the clones and I."**

I nodded quietly, feeling a bit more comfortable now that I knew that Mewtwo was acting as protector rather than attacker. _'Okay.'_

He was silent for a moment, then looked up, at an area of sky near the sun, and spoke once more, **"When the sun sets this night, as it touches the horizon, you should try that Metronome of yours. That's all I will say."** He then took off, silently ascending to the air as though carried aloft by the same force that propelled Superman in wingless flight.

He was hardly out of sight when Natty, the female I recognized from the group that had come to greet me the day before, came over a small rise of the ground to approach me curiously. _'Who was that? I didn't recognize his kind.'_

I looked up at the portion of the sky to which Mewtwo had gone, and then back to Natty, _'Mewtwo.'_

Natty seemed confused for a moment, but then she frowned, _'But there are more than two Mew! I don't get it?'_

I blinked; I had thought that she had never heard of Mew, but apparently that wasn't so, _'He's a new sort, he and Mew are close.'_

_'Oh...'_ Natty looked up as well, but then looked back at me before smiling, _'So, do you like Altair?'_

"Pix?" I considered, _'He's nice. Why?'_

She smiled, _'He's my brother! And I think he likes you.'_ She rubbed her cheek on mine, thankfully holding back any sparks that might have wanted to come out.

I considered, _'Brother?'_

She nodded, "Pi!" _'Ya!'_ She held her forepaws to her mouth as she giggled, _'He keeps talking about you, too!'_

I nodded numbly as I remembered a scene from the night previous. _""I think you're interesting, why wouldn't he?""_

I had no time to respond before Natty waved me to follow her, _'Come on! The berries get good after they've been in the sun!'_

_'Uh, right!'_ I followed, perfectly ready to leave certain thoughts behind.

* * *

Mind. It.

There was a tree in front of me, and it was still standing strong. Mind. It. Mind. It stood there. Mind. It hadn't moved yet. Mind. It was a target.

Mind. It. The pull was there, but rather than simply seeing it... Mind. It. I pulled back. Mind. It. And suddenly, a fire filled my veins, pushing at my skin like air against the confines of a balloon...

I yelled, and a yellow film covered my vision... but beyond that nothing changed. 'What happened?'

The tree was unhurt... as was I... as was the grass arou-wait. Just a foot beyond my body the grass turned from green to that strange yellow color... in a perfect circle all around me. 'What is?'

Aik'sha ran at me with a smile, _'What is that!? Is that a shield? It looks neat! How'd you do it!? Can I learn how!? Please?'_ She stood at the very edge of my little dome, experimentally poking it with a claw, finding that it didn't budge, _'So neat!'_

I smiled, not entirely sure what had happened myself, _'You remember that thing I was doing when the moon came out?'_

She nodded enthusiastically, _'Yeah! You were nodding your head and going'_ "Pi-chu-pi-chu-pi-chu-" She started waving her head, arms, and body back and forth rhythmically, mimicking my own chant from the night before in her own language.

I laughed, _'Yes, that, you can stop I get it.'_

She looked at me blankly, still chanting, "Pi-chu-pi-chu-pi-chu. Pi. Chu. Pi. Chu. Pi. Chu. Pi. Chu. Pi. Chu."

_'Ooo-ookay, you can stop now!'_

My eyes widened as her eyes started glowing dimly as she continued to chant, and I remembered; the 'chu family is a member of the Fairy group, which includes the Clef family (Cleffa, Clefairy, and Clefable). Knowing this, it would make sense that Metronome would come naturally to them, especially with a young, pliable mind as the Pichu before me. "Pi. Chu. Pi. Chu."

I backed away a step; I had no idea what she might do, but it was clear I was the likely target, and suddenly glad for my shield, _'Aik'sha...'_

Suddenly she glowed, opening her mouth without thought as a blue glow collected there, and before I could think about what was happening my shield was being deformed by a strong, blue, heavy push from the front.

With some effort I tried to maintain it, but I hardly even remembered how it'd happened, let alone how to reinforce it! It lasted for a while under the onslaught, but after a few moments it failed...

Aik'sha finally stopped, blinking curiously at me as she did, "Chu?" _'Huh?'_ She came closer, inspecting me.

I shivered a bit, my eyes wide and my fur likely looking like that of a drowned rat; I could just see myself, standing there, shivering, looking every bit like a dog that had just had a bath. The water was robbing me of my heat and my fur, flattened as it was, was not insulating me as it should have been.

_'Are you okay? What happened? What did I do? That felt funny!'_

I smiled through the shivers, _'Well, don't you learn fast?'_

"chu?" _'huh?'_ She tilted her head, then smiled, _'Yeah! But what did I do?'_

I laughed, _'When you chant and move your head like that, it's Metronome. It lets you use an attack that another Pokemon knows that you don't.'_ I shook some of the water from my fur on impulse, upping the heat to try to get rid of the rest, _'That was Watergun, I think. Like what a Squirtle uses.'_

She thought about this, then her mouth gaped open, _'That would work on a ground-type, right!? That's neat!'_

I laughed, the cold and shivers making me just a bit more jolly, or at least more expressive, _'Yes but it won't always work; You couldn't control that very well, could you? I didn't even know I **did** that shield thingy.'_

She sat on her bum, "Pi..." She was silent for a second, then she stood, her forepaws held in fists as though ready for a fight, _'But it's still better than zapping them right? Zapping them doesn't work at all!'_

I smiled, Aik'sha's enthusiasm was infectious, _'I'm practicing it, want to practice with me?'_

_'**OKAY!**'_ She jumped and came to stand beside me, pointed at the tree. We practiced for a while then. Ka'shi, one of Aik'sha's brothers, came and tried it for a while, but it didn't work for him and he soon lost interest. Altair and Natty seemed interested as well, but Natty's mate soon came to fetch her, leaving only Altair and Zapam to watch us.

In that time the both of us had accomplished some rather strange feats, not the least of which was when I suddenly shot a beam of strange energy that encased the tree in ice, making me feel rather... odd. Though perhaps the winner for strangeness was when Aik'sha suddenly shot into the air and came back down on the tree, riding on a wave of electricity before she slammed into the tree, feet first.

When she came-to she found that she was latched onto the tree, with no idea how she'd accomplished the feat, though I was somehow convinced that she'd just used the 'Fly' technique, albeit altered for the fact that she had no wings.

Sometimes the strange and illogical is the most entertaining, but eventually we got hungry.

* * *

It was reaching into the afternoon, with the sun into the final third of its journey across the sky when Aik'sha, Zapam and I came to the bush that grew my new favorite treat. The way the spicy/sour things affected me had not changed in the day since I'd last eaten them, which meant that with one bite I was on my back, stars in my eyes and a smile on my face as one leg twitched shamelessly in the air.

Aik'sha wasn't as dramatic as I was, but she was still a child, so when she got on her back and started playing with her food with all four paws, she just came off as overwhelmingly cute, her cries of "Pichu-Pichu-Pi!" were some of the most endearing sounds I'd ever heard.

Zapam, of course, just seemed entertained by both our antics and ate the berry that he'd picked quietly, apparently hardly even noticing the flavor.

Finally I confronted him, _'Don't you love it? It's wonderful! It's so yummy!'_ Matching opinion to action, I took another bite from my unfinished treat, collapsing again into bliss as I chewed.

Zapam finished his berry and spoke in that quiet, yet powerful way, _'I don't like or hate any berries, my human said something about nature. This kind makes your body grow stronger, my trainer said so, so I eat them sometimes.'_

I heard his words through my bliss, and I thought, 'Make me stronger? I could use that, not that I'm arguing!' Mind recovered, I happily picked off the last of my snack, making pleased noises as I did so.

_'So I'll grow big and strong like you!? Neat! Hooray!'_ Aik'sha celebrated a bit as she took another bite of her snack, hers taking longer to finish than mine had due to her smaller size.

I looked up at the sun, it was coming to the edge of the world, and I could hardly wait for dusk to come; that was when I would take Mewtwo's advice and... well, who knew what would happen? For all I knew, I could end up teleporting somewhere important, or perhaps even evolving...

I had to admit, the idea of suddenly teleporting to some volcano somewhere had a certain appeal to it. Maybe I'd even see some other Vulpix!

Other Vulpix... well, I had certainly adapted to thinking of myself as a fox Pokemon rather quickly. When had I started thinking that way?

Oh well, it wasn't really important.

The scratchy, yet smooth voice of a Raichu interrupted my thoughts, _'What did that Mew talk to you about?'_

I looked at him, Zapam seemed genuinely curious so I made a genuine effort to answer him, _'He asked me what I was. Then he asked why I was here, so I told him.'_

Zapam tilted his head, one of the few true expressions I'd seen him use, _'Why would he ask what you were? Isn't it obvious?'_

I sighed, this was going to be hard, _'I know what I am _now_, but I used to be human. He wanted... to know which I thought I was _now_, human or Pokemon.'_

He tilted his head the other way, still curious as Aik'sha started taking interest in the conversation, _'What did you say?'_

I shrugged my shoulders, _'I am me, what else do I need to know? I can never be human again anyway.'_

Aik'sha climbed atop Zapam's head to look down at me curiously, _'Why not? If you changed once, why not again?'_

I sighed, trying to think of a way of putting what I was trying to say into words that my companions would understand. _'I... when I changed, I didn't just change my outside. My inside changed to, so I can never really be human again.'_

Aik'sha tilted her head, _'Oh, okay.'_ She climbed off the elder and resumed her pleased eating.

Zapam responded in his own way, _'Humans are strange. It's like they're Pokemon that forgot how to be Pokemon. They're good leaders, like my human was, but I think you're better off.'_

I considered this for a moment, then smiled, _'Thank you, I think so too.'_

Zapam was quiet for a moment, looking at Aik'sha as she rolled on the ground, berry held in all four paws as she played with it while eating it, then he turned to me, _'Will you train more?'_ Aik'sha suddenly stood, berry between her two forepaws as she suddenly took great interest in what was being said, a plea to join in already on her lips.

I shook my head, _'I want to groom before the light goes away, then I'll do what Mewtwo told me. You don't say no to a Pokemon like him.'_

Aik'sha suddenly appeared between us, fruit in mouth as she stood from all-fours, which she quickly moved to her forepaws as she looked up at Zapam, _'Will you train me, eldest? Pleeeeaaase?'_ "Piiiiiii?"

I could visibly watch as Zapam's resistance crumbled; he was opposed to hurting her, but he could no more resist the Puppy Dog Eyes than I could, and after a moment he descended to three paws, _'Let's find some others then.'_

_'Okay!'_ She stuck her snack into her mouth and the two of them were off, Aik'sha tacking the ground repeatedly for each of Zapam's relatively long strides.

I chuckled under my breath as I watched them go. 'So I'm better off am I? We'll see. I think she would agree.' Satisfied, I started trotting my way to the burned out spot, which really just seemed the logical place to do this sort of work.

I then started off on fire-blowing the dust, debris, dirt, and leftover water residue from my fur. If nothing else, doing so allowed me to shrug off the last of the lingering cold from Aik'sha's little accident earlier in the day.

Besides, looking good was _important_. I didn't know why, but it was!

* * *

Most, if not all of the Pikachu had retreated to the power plant as the sun was nearing the horizon, only Aik'sha, Altair and Natty sat with me as I watched its inevitable retreat to the waters visible over rolling hills far, far away; we'd retreated to the top of the cliff in order to see it better. Or at least _I_ had, the others had merely followed me there, despite the dangers of a Graveller or something jumping out and attacking us.

With so much stone around and behind me, I'd have felt better if Zapam had come, but he and the other Raichu were inside, tending to the Pichu that were now settling down for the night. Aik'sha would be going in with Natty, who bedded with her mate Zak in the Raichu's chamber (he being one of said Raichu).

The sun reached the water's edge, and I started with little preamble, Aik'sha mimicking my actions in her own way.

Mind. It.

Mind. I saw. It. Was there. Mind. Familiar now. It. And so easy to simply take. Mind. And pull. It. Yank. Mind. To take, pull, yank, and claim. It.

Mind. It.

But for the moment, Mind. I ignored it. It. Instead studying myself. Mind. Wondering on what was there. Mind. It. I did not touch. It. Though it was there.

The Pokemon element of the Metronome was there. It. Just before me. Mind. It. Like a rope. Mind. It. I'd learned that if I pulled on it. Mind. It. It would break. Mind. It. And the last thread to break would become my new skill. Mind. It.

But suddenly, I was no longer satisfied with pulling. Mind. It. I didn't want to break it. Mind. It. I wanted to _follow_ it. Mind. It. As I had with that tunnel, all those years ago. Mind. It. To not simply benefit from it. Mind. It. But to learn from it. Mind. It.

And on an impulse, I did just that. Mind. It. Pulling not the rope to me, but me along _it_, seeking its other end.

Mind. It. There was nothing to see around it, just a familiar blackness...

Mind. It. I heard echoes, though. Mind. It. Echoes of thoughts... Mind. It. Reverberating in the blackness... Mind. It. Powerful. Mind. Confused. It. Desparaging yet connected... Mind. It.

There were eyes on me. Mind. It. I was in a place I didn't belong. Mind. It. The eyes of hundreds. Mind. Thousands. It. Perhaps uncounted millions. Mind. It. Would be so easy to become lost... Mind. Here. It. These were...

Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. The minds of Pokemon. Mind. It. Lots of them. Mind. It. They reminded me of something. Mind. It. It was familiar. Mind. It. I'd seen it before.

Mind. It. The Unown.

Mind. It. Seperately they were fragmented, mere symbols of a greater whole. Mind. It. Like the letters on a page. Mind. It. But arranged. Mind. It. Together. Mind. It. As a Whole. Mind. It.

They were more.

Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mine. Dit. Mine. Dit. Mined. It.

They were confused. Mind. It. Collectively, they had a hive mind more powerful than that of Mewtwo. Mind. It. But when they saw me, they were confused. Mind. It. And I didn't blame them. Mind. It.

I don't know what they were expecting. Mind. It. But they _did_ seem to have expected my arrival. Mind. It. And they reacted.

Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. MindIt. MindIt. MindIt. MindItMindItMindItMindIt.

The world around me lit up into a purple haze, and coming out of that haze I saw...

Mind. It. Mind. It.

The next thing I knew, Natta was saying something and backing away, so I looked at her, wondering what she wanted.

_'She's going to explode!'_ Suddenly my companions ran and dove for cover behind a large rock, as I simply tilted my head, wondering what was wrong.

The sun had set completely now, leaving only a light orange just behind the horizon and plunging our surroundings into darkness, but to my sight it was well lit, with shadows banished by a light literally coming from my every hair.

'Huh, am I going to use Explosion then? Oh well, I learned something important. That's plenty.' With this thought, I took the metaphorical bull by his equally metaphorical horns, taking this skill that had been planted into my skull and FORCING it out.

And there was pain. I screamed out as it felt like my body was being torn to pieces, shredded from the inside out as every bone in my body screamed, every muscle ripped, every nerve fired at once and my mind drank it all in as it happened.

And just as quickly as it started, it was over.

I looked around, 'Funny, this doesn't _look_ like an explosion's aftermath.. shouldn't there be a crater? Or at least a scorch mark! Am I that weak? Bah!' Of course, with some experimental moving of my many limbs, I found that, other than a little pain and maybe some itching, I was rather unharmed; explosion made Pokemon pass out totally spent, but here I was, still standing on all fours and wondering what went wrong.

"Pichu?" Aik'sha poked her head from behind the boulder, and I saw her eyes go wide, "Pichu!" She ran at me, followed shortly by a pair of equally aghast Pikachu.

I had to admit that I felt a little strange, but I couldn't understand why they were looking at me like that, and when Aik'sha asked how I was doing I answered, _'I'm fine.'_

I slapped my paws over my mouth, standing on my hindquarters on reflex, nearly falling backwards with the force of it. I then moved my paws away from my face so I could get a look at them.

They were yellow. So was the rest of me. "PiPikachu!"

* * *

**End Chapter 3**

* * *

Yay! Chapter 3 finished! A little shorter than previous chapters, but these things end when they want to, not when I want them to. Heh.

And coincidentally: Ouch. I can only imagine that rearranging the cellular structure of a biological organism whose cellular structure is not made to be rearranged would HURT. Perhaps even more than exploding (though that would probably hurt to).

My head hurts in sympathy even as I write this. Ouch.

Alex Ultra: Forgotten Melodies  
LATER


	4. Chapter 4

Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Although fanfiction-dot-net has a policy against reviewer responses, I think it will be okay to say to foxyjosh that, yup, that about sums it up. (And that Sari's a 'she'. Hehe.)

On another note: My chapters don't have titles, mostly because I just can't think of names for them. If I could get names for them I might give them names, but for now I'm just going to give them the generic "Chapter number" names.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

When I realized that I'd become a Pikachu my first reaction was one of confusion; was that even possible? But then, according to the rules, with Metronome literally ANYTHING was possible.

Somehow I was sure that Mewtwo knew this would happen, and on some level I was glad he'd told me about it. Though... perhaps what I'd learned while inside had been far more valuable, certainly an explosion would have been worth that much.

Transforming into a Pikachu, Natty specifically, had been quite the pleasant surprise, though. I'd always loved Pikachu, and now I was one! Albeit temporarily. And as we walked into the door to the nesting-place after a quick run back, I started exploring myself.

The first, and to me most obvious thing that I needed to explore were the big, obvious swells of flesh that surrounded my mouth and neck; it felt like someone had stuffed my cheeks full of fluff! As though I had pillows attached to my mouth!

And as I realized this, I had a sudden desire to knead them, pushing and pulling on them with a smile, "Piiiikaschuu Piiika!" _'It feels funny!'_

Aik'sha's eyes shined as Natty smiled, taking up position in front of me and mimicking my movements, pushing her face in and pulling it out to nearly twice its normal width in a rather interesting display of pliability, making us quite the pair of face-making Pikachu. And I suddenly felt so silly! In fact, as I stood there making and recieving faces, I got a sudden, overwhelming need to laugh and roll on my back, holding my belly and sending sounds of "Pika-chuuu!" echoing through the halls.

Which, by the way, was exactly what I did, joined soon by Natty across from me and Aik'sha jumping on my belly, whereupon she started tickling me.

What I didn't know was that Natty was actually rather ticklish in certain spots, and that Aik'sha had spent enough time with said adult to know where these spots were. She attacked them furiously, tickling them, even adding a bit of electricity to the equation that I wasn't expecting, which interestingly only made me laugh harder.

As I laughed I could literally _feel_ sparks flying around my new cheeks, zapping through them and flinging 'round my teeth in a wholly pleasant sensation that just made me want to feel it even more.

Finally, mercifully just as I thought my lungs would catch fire from their burning, Altair pulled Aik'sha off of my belly by the nape of her neck, leaving me to fight off the last fit of giggles with a continued glow in my eyes.

Then, with a smile still on my face, I rolled to all fours, sparks flying from my cheeks with obvious anticipation, _'I wanna shock something!'_ The muscles that made up my new electrical sacks twitched, sending out spastic jolts of electricity that I enjoyed just listening to; it was as if instinct was telling me that this was my friend and I should let it out to play.

Suddenly I stopped and looked longingly out the door behind me, _'Too bad it's dark out...'_ And it was, pitch dark really.

There was a moment of silence, and suddenly I felt a jolt from behind that surprised me enough to make me fall forward, landing on my face.

Unphazed, I suddenly turned around to find Aik'sha holding herself and sparking slightly with a confident grin.

Before I could respond I felt another shock, and this time I immediately turned to see Natty grinning at me. I immediately responded by sending her a shock in kind. Aik'sha laughed, Altair shocked her, and before any of us knew it we were rolling about, sometimes running and shocking each-other as we went down the hall, disturbing a few Voltorb and causing the Magnemite to scatter.

Finally we all collapsed into a pile, laughing, giggling, and no longer sparking, our reserves all but spent as we relaxed in a large, empty room where a few other groups of Pikachu had been inspired by our playing into playing themselves.

"Raichu, Raichurai." I felt something on my shoulder and looked back curiously; it was that other Raichu from the group that had first come to find me the day before.

"Pi? Pikachu pi?" _'Huh? What's up?'_

Suddenly Natty stuck her face out from under me, smiling up at the newcomer, "Piiii!" _'Hiiii!'_

Suddenly he was confused, backing away and looking between Natty and I as our little group disentangled ourselves, _'Natty why are there two of you?'_ He didn't really seem alarmed, just confused.

Almost as if to answer, I found that I just couldn't hold it anymore and as I stood there, I suddenly glowed again and quickly became skinnier, longer of limb, and with a vastly different center of gravity, forcing me to fall automatically to all fours.

I shook my head as if to clear it, _'Wow, that felt funny.'_

Natty ran to the Raichu, _'Zak! Sari transformed into me! It was really cool!'_

'Oh, that explains it. He thought I was her, his mate. Ew.' Aik'sha excitedly ran to my front, stopping with a minimum slide to face me at close range; she had a smile on her face that quickly faded to a curious look, _'Hey, how come your eyes changed?'_

I blinked, tilting my head, _'They did?'_ I suddenly felt self-conscious about my eyes... something I had rarely before thought about.

Suddenly something touched one of my tails, and I reflexively pulled away to find Altair sniffing me curiously, _'You got another tail, too.'_

I blinked again, looking back to find that, indeed, a fifth tail had mysteriously appeared between the other four. I gave the group an experimental swish; other than there being more sensation, it felt pretty much the same. What's the difference between four tails and five when you weren't used to having a tail at all? True, fewer tails were easier to keep track of, but they mostly moved together anyway so it wasn't that great a change.

_'Huh, so I do.'_ That probably meant I was growing up. I was now one tail away from six, the standard number for a normal Vulpix, though I wondered if they ever got more than that. I wouldn't know until I saw one with seven or more, though I figured that eight would be the hypothetical maximum, since having Nine tails would logically be the domain of the evolution, Ninetails.

Natty approached Aik'sha, _'Come on Aik'sha, time to go back to the nest.'_ She picked the little girl up by mouth at the nape of her neck and started carrying her away, Aik'sha complaining listlessly as she did so and Zak following behind.

Altair stayed behind with me as I watched them go, feeling strange as I waved my tails around a bit, trying to ignore the sensation of the new one and trying to ignore the sudden itch in my eyes.

After a moment he spoke, _'Ready for sleep?'_

I looked at him, then stood, _'In a minute, I want to check something!'_

I took off down a hallway, Altair just behind.

* * *

Though it may have been mostly abandoned, this old power plant had still been made by humans, for humans; and any building made for humans had at least one common feature: Restrooms.

And where one could find a restroom, usually they could find a mirror, and right at that moment I simply _needed_ a mirror; I _wanted_ to know what I looked like. The water outside didn't seem like it was ever calm enough to do so, but a mirror, even if broken, would be just the ticket.

Finally I found them: two doors, one with the pink women's room symbol, and another with a blue men's symbol. I pawed my way through the door with the pink symbol and made my way inside.

Unfortunately it seemed as though some of the Voltorb that lived in the place had taken up roost in there, and at some point the mirror had been... well, exploded on; there was simply nothing left of it, not even any real shards of appreciable size. I sighed, "Pix..." Backing up I... found that I couldn't properly pull the door open. "Pix?"

'Aw shoot! No hands, no handle!' I looked behind me at Altair, who didn't seem too concerned, _'I can't get it open.'_

Tilting his head curiously at me, he looked up at the handle on the door, to which he quickly jumped, latching on with all four paws. He then kept grip with his forepaws as he pushed off of the doorjamb with his feet, effectively opening the door. _'You did it!'_ I made my way into the way of the door and held it open with one leg so that Altair could come out as well, which he did.

"Piiikah." Altair rubbed the back of his head with a sparkly blush and I smiled, moving on to the other door, this one the men's and this time jamming the door open with what I was fairly sure had once been a piece of wooden moulding that had been chewed by sharp, pointed teeth and left in the middle of the hall.

This room had a mostly intact mirror, and I was glad to be able to at least jump to the really quite dirty sinks where I was able to finally see myself in this form for what was the first time.

Really, I just looked mostly like your standard Vulpix. Four legs, smooth build, shiny hair, a series of almost dredlock-like hair curls on my head that didn't shine quite so much as the fur on my five tails, and soulful pink eyes with a pair of black dots to the lower-right of my right pupil.

Pink. I frowned curiously. Why were my eyes pink? It wasn't as though I was opposed; I'd always loved the eyes of Sasami from Tenchi Muyo! But why would they change (at least I presumed they had, based on Aik'sha's reaction), and to pink? Most Vulpix had black or brown eyes, though I could guess that some at least had blue or green; pink however was...

'Well, I did just transform a few minutes ago. And if I remember right, all the Pokemon that can transform are, themselves, pink. Ditto and Mew... I wonder if there are any others? Can Celebi transform? ... I don't think so.' I tilted my head, and the dog in the mirror... mirrored the action, 'Can that really be me?' I swished my tails, the critter in the mirror did the same; I put a paw on the glass and my reflection did the same.

Suddenly Altair joined me with a smile and started making faces at his reflection, "Puiiiikaaau-" He stuck his tongue out and planted his face on the surface, pulling his cheeks out and stretching his face to nearly twice its normal width, making me giggle at his antics.

I had seen what I needed to see, my reflection, while almost surprising, pretty much confirmed my suspicions and told me what I needed to know; I didn't want to stand there too long, though. I knew that if Altair or I were to paw one of those handles that I could quite likely recieve a painful shock as water came out of that little silver... what was it called again? It was... well anyway, my Vulpix side was absolutely adamant, it didn't want to stand around where it could be pelted with cold water at any time, and it was time to go.

I jumped down and, remembering my previous entrapment, made my way to the door, which I quickly pawed open with the minimal opening that the decorative fleshing had left in the way, and called back to Altair to come with me, which he quickly did with a grin.

I saw a clock on the wall as we jogged back to where we'd slept the night before, it was about 8 PM. Seemed like a perfectly reasonable time to go to bed. If one could call a hard floor 'bed'.

* * *

I didn't know what time it was when I woke up again, considering the clock on the wall didn't seem to have moved... at all, which was disappointing but not necessarily surprising; a stray thundershock could have easily fried it, and without any people about there was no point in it being repaired.

And I figure that someone at least _did_ do minimal repairs here; otherwise the generator wouldn't be running. If the generator was running, then that meant that there was a load.

True, the electric Pokemon could suffice as something of a load, but where a Raichu would max out at a few hundred thousand volts, the typical commercial power plant often pumped out millions, even trillions, often at low amperages making the generated power all the more intense.

Or was it high amps that made it more powerful? Suddenly I couldn't remember, though I knew, as I shook my head wryly, that this was nothing new: I'd been forgetting and remembering things, doubting my own memory since practically the day I was bor-'FAUCET! IT'S CALLED A FAUCET!'

I stopped, the force of my revelation so powerful as to have distracted me from my short walk out the front door; then I shook my head again, 'Not that it matters, I can't seem to think of its equivilant in my new language...'

Of course this thought bothered me as I made my way, carefully, around Voltorb that, so early in the morning, seemed perfectly content with looking like big Pokeballs, just laying there looking discarded and random.

'Maybe if I called them... water vents?' I tilted my head, that particular image bringing to mind volcanic vents spewing water rather than caustic gasses; to my Vulpix mind that seemed like sacrilege, though it had to agree that such seemed a reasonable description. But it soon came up with a new, better alternative, 'Human water springs then, like hot springs except they can control the water.' I nodded, satisfied with my decision; this one involved no sacrilege.

Not that it mattered all that much, as I soon reasoned, 'I somehow doubt that they'd keep the water running here anyway; nothing here but a bunch of Pokemon, Pokemon that would see no reason to turn the water off once turned on, and may not even understand how to do so in the first place.' Intelligent as these Pikachu seemed to be, I somehow doubted that they cared much for human things, and thus likely didn't care to learn about them, let alone how to work them.

'Although I _do_ remember Ash's Pikachu opening some of his other Pokeballs from time to time, and I might be mistaken but I think there migh-no, it was Ash himself... or was it May that turned the wheel on that one cruise boat when the Pokemon accidentally set it adrift toward a waterfall? Hmm... well, it doesn't matter.

'What was I doing again? ... okay, going outside for some morning exercises. Right.' I nodded my head with the decision, though no one outside my skull would have known why I was nodding my head and looking determined. Indeed, I found myself to be rather entertained with this knowledge and had to fight off a fit of giggles as I pawed my way outdoors.

Again only Zapam was out here, training himself by tackling boulders and shocking them, presumably in an effort to grow stronger.

Again I asked him to help me train and again he outclassed me in every way, though he expressed pleasure at the strides I'd taken in only one day and surprise at the strange song that I sang as a result of a quick Metronome. It had caused him to become drowsy enough to fall to his face, allowing me to land a few hits before he got back up, hardly any worse for wear and still as pleasantly bland as ever.

I had to admit to myself that his bland pleasantness was a tad disarming, but I'd always enjoyed being around odd people; after all, I'd been friends with everyone from a goth and punkster who thought like a politico, to jokers and nerds who like to talk about their latest Star Trek game.

Too bad I wouldn't be seeing any USS Enterprises anytime soon, that would have been kinda cool. Not all that much fun but cool anyway.

I was just starting to get too tired to fight much more when suddenly, without warning I grinned wildly, my heart bursting from its frame as I laughed almost crazily, _'Goodie! A fight! Let's Fight! YAAA!'_

Zapam's eyes widened as I closed on him with more speed than before, actually evading his counterattack before ramming him with my head, that wild look in my eyes before his tail caught me blind and knocked me back.

I rolled with the landing and was back on the attack before I'd even realized I'd been hit, giggling like a maniac the entire time as again Zapam countered at the last moment, throwing me over his shoulder and sending a shock my way.

The landing wasn't hard, I'd simply kicked my legs at the rock that I was close to hitting, a crazed smile still in place, but the thundershock caught me blind and knocked me to the ground...

I twitched... helplessly trying to get back to my feet... and failing to do so... _'Owwww... what hit me?'_

Zapam approached cautiously, his cheeks sparking with anticipation and warning, _'I did.'_

I looked up at him, struggling through evident paralysis to at least roll to a dignified position, _'Wh-what happened? I just...'_ I closed my eyes; behind their lids I saw an image. It was orange, humanoid, though its skin had the consistency of cracked lava and its mouth seemed much more a jack o' lantern than a mouth; its body was made of globs of stuff and rather than speaking, moving, or even thinking, it simply seemed to fade away as I thought of it. 'Strange, I don't recognize THAT Pokemon.' Though it wasn't as though the possibility that it hadn't been a Pokemon was beyond reasoning, it could have just as easily been a figment of my imagination, a personality created to represent my own innate battle-lust and released in that one moment when I was closest to its purpose.

Zapam approached me a bit, _'You battled very well there, whatever happened it seemed good to me.'_

I smiled wryly; leave it to a veteran fighter to think of the power of something over its dangers. Still, he had a point; if overthinking things was preventing me from being as effective as I could be, I would need to learn to think less and just do.

Don't think, just do. Live in the moment, not the past or the future; take every opportunity and prepare for the future only when convenient. Don't get bogged down in details, trying to pull off special moves only took time and opened you up for disaster.

I got flashes of fighting on Super Smash Brothers. I'd always played that game well, from the first one to the latest, Brawl, and always I used Pikachu as my most effective fighter. Blitzing across the screen, spreading sparks and screaming obscenities in a language I found cute as large groups of the most advanced AI in the game simply fell to my superior balance of speed, skill, and power.

Mmmm, suddenly I wanted to try fighting like a Pikachu; I didn't have the proper cheeks for it, though, so instead I settled for finding some way of fighting like a Vulpix. Perhaps I could emulate the style? I couldn't use a Thunder attack, but Fire had its own power, I was sure I could figure it out.

And I would. As soon as my body was in shape and up to speed; after all, even the Pichu were out performing me! Aik'sha had seemingly infinite energy, despite moving at nearly twice my speed step-for-step and doing it nearly all day long. I needed that sort of endurance, and was determined to have it if gaining it killed me!

... not that I hoped it _would_...

Shaking off the cobwebs of being thrown around, I got back on my feet, shaking off the residual effects of Zapam's attack, _'I'd like to keep going.'_

Zapam's smile was blank once more, his invitation for me to resume normal activities; I quickly complied.

* * *

Aik'sha awoke me well after the sun had risen high in the sky, complaining that my spot was too hot for her and quickly scurrying to the cool grass, where she waited for me to wake up.

I groggily opened my eyes, not so comfortable today as I had been the last time I'd fallen asleep in the sun. Zapam and I had really done a number on my body, and though the rest had done wonders, I was still sore, incredibly so, really.

Still, as I sat up, I was glad. For one thing, this was a pace that, while hard, would have good results; the sweet berries could be used if I really screwed up to give me a boost of strength to heal and perhaps even keep going, but most of all was the promise I'd gotten from Zapam.

He'd removed willpower from the equation when he agreed: He was going to wake me each morning when the sun came up, and train me at that same pace until I could sustain it myself. I didn't need to drag myself out of my favorite dreamland, I didn't need to find reason to roll away from my warm, cozy corner where none of the Pikachu wanted to cuddle as much as they did with each-other. I would build my endurance quickly; I would likely hurt myself, many times pulling muscles and straining joints as I put them to forces and through rigors they weren't used to, but in the end worth it.

_'Yes? What is it, Aik'sha?'_

She pointed to the river, _'The elders are going to start fishing, do you want some?'_

I considered; truth be told I wasn't too sure, if only because I wasn't sure my battered body would be able to drag itself to the river, it seemed too far. But I nodded anyway, somehow getting my carcass off the bleached ground around me and lumbering slowly to the riverside, where I spotted and trotted to Altair's side as he patiently waited.

Yet again there were two groups; one with a single Raichu further upstream and a larger group further downstream, which was where I currently was. Altair merely gave me a smile, which I tiredly returned, though he said nothing. In fact, none of the normally chatty Pokemon were making any noise, and I quickly realized why: Fish were sensitive to noise, and being very quiet made them feel safer, which was helpful in catching them off guard.

Also helpful in catching them off-guard: Fishing at different times of the day, which is what seemed to have been happening, as the day before the fishing had gone on early in the day, where now it seemed much closer to, if not after the noon hour. As well, Fish Pokemon were likely smarter than the other fish I was familiar with, so additional tricks were helpful; tricks such as baiting the water upstream with food to lure them to more available waters, then scaring them downstream with a quick zap that sent them swimming.

And that zap finally came, followed a few moments later by the Raichu net doing their thing, sending paralyzed fish flopping to shore; most of the catch was Magikarp, though I did see a few Goldeen mixed in, some of those even making it back to the water with a bit of wriggling about.

Most of the catch was quickly claimed; Altair had caught one for himself, another soon flying through the air to smack me in the face, prompting my companion to start laughing.

I had a bit of trouble killing the thing for some reason; I'd thought that a good fire would be enough to fry a fish, but it just didn't seem as effective as Altair's electricity in that regard. And when I'd finally gotten it to stop flopping around I flamed it a bit till I thought it was cooked and started tearing it open.

My first few bites were... 'Ugh, I can't chew! I think I overcooked it.' I shook my head with disgust, 'I guess it will take some practice...' I sighed, mentally shaking my head, 'Even here, I guess I have a lot to learn about living away from society; I can't imagine how hard it would be in a forest, or just plain on my own.'

I smirked to myself, 'Listen to me, complaining about how dry my food is.' I sighed, 'Though I almost wonder if it would be better raw; for all I know it might be better for my constitution. Foxes rarely cook their food after all.' I tilted my head, 'Although, if they could, they probably would; cooked protien is easier to digest than uncooked. Hmm, I guess I'd have to ask a natural-born Vulpix how they do it.' Ignoring my thoughts, I continued with my consumption, trying to ignore any thoughts that might pop up and cause headaches.

My head hurt enough already; ramming it against hard objects, repeatedly, had that effect.

* * *

Going above and beyond the call of survival is _not_ an easy thing. Normally no living thing will work any harder than survival demands, usually adapting to the needed level of effort early on and staying there for the remainder of their lives. Doing any more than that was difficult, and held little reward.

Which was why humans so often did so little training; survival didn't call for it so long as there was an infrastructure to keep them seperate from the sort of situations that would require physical exertion, and like humans Pokemon needed a _reason_ to go beyond the minimum.

That reason could be called Morale. Whether it be in the form of the adoration a body-builder is given by those who witness his feats of strength, or something simpler, like the added calm of greater security given by greater strength and preparation.

For the Pikachu, their primary morale point was playtime: They did it a lot, and it kept their spirits high even as it gave them a time and a reason to practice their attacks, defenses, and social interactions. In fact, the social exercise was its own form of morale, the closeness afforded by their nature making the dangers of the world seem less important, yet driving them to feel protectiveness that made them want to grow strong.

For me I had thought I knew what my morale would be: The satisfaction of having grown strong, knowing I'd done all I could to protect myself and further those around me.

But after my third morning of training I realized I was flagging; my previous afternoon had consisted of eating a meal and tending to my sore body, stretching my muscles and even taking a short run before I finally gave up and rested for the rest of the evening. If I could barely move, trying to continue doing so wouldn't help much, so instead I rested... and eventually slept.

The next morning Zapam had kept good to his promise, quite literally zapping me awake when I didn't respond right away.

At that moment I had nearly been offended, but I bit my response; I chose this course, and I was going to see it through.

And then the training had started. Rather, it wasn't really training so much as it was a beat-down; I tried to fight effectively, and got incrementally better at doing so, but Zapam held all the cards and I was defeated at every single turn. I couldn't even get _close_ to him, and he knew it. Even my fire, a ranged attack that spread out and SHOULD have gotten him, had been simple to dodge; he flanked me and sent me sprawling.

And I getting sent sprawling had been the pace of things all morning, nonstop for several hours, even when several Pikachu joined in; Zapam had effectively ignored all of our combined attacks and hit me at inopportune times, often seeming to appear out of empty air as if teleporting. The harder I tried the more he proved that he was simply out of my league.

And as I lay in my little dried-out circle, I wondered if I would be able to continue with such punishment. 'I'm all out of energy.' I picked my head up, looking to where the Pikachu played, 'I can hardly feel any more than just my body; even smells feel far away...' My head wobbled a bit with the effort of keeping it aloft, 'This sucks.' Shakily, I put my head back down, resting it on my forelegs as I concentrated for a moment on my breathing.

'This sucks.' I lay there a while, trying to get my slight shaking under control, and not doing very well. 'This sucks.' I lay there a while, trying to think of some other way to sum up my situation, and not doing very well. 'This really sucks.'

Finally I stood suddenly, shaking my head, 'I just need to eat something!' I was hungry, my stomach telling me so, and perhaps one of the sweet berries would replenish my reserves enough to at least be able to stand properly.

Fortunately I did have the energy to walk, not run, to where the berries grew wild; potent and sweet on their vines.

Looking with tired eyes I found the berry patch to... look... different from how I remember, just a few days ago; it was as though the bushes had... grown, noticably enough that it was almost as though the old bushes had died and left new bushes in their wake.

Ignoring such oddities I approached one of the strands, sniffing one of the fruits that were lower to the ground, having barely the energy for that, let alone to reach up much higher.

With little thought for the taste I chewed and swallowed, feeling it go down my throat and land in my stomach.

There wasn't an immediate reaction, but after a minute or so, as I was walking away, I did feel my headache start to lift and some of the fatigue start to flee from my legs.

But my mind was another story; I wasn't thinking well, and thus I wasn't feeling good. It was only my third day and already morale was down.

I sighed, drooping my head a bit as I walked. 'I need to do something, I can't just sit here and feel stupid...' I sighed again, wondering what I was going to do.

Then I perked my head up, looking off to the distance... 'Well, why not?' I then ran, going to a certain copse of trees.

Morale is a funny thing; it can come in so many forms and hide itself so well, at times it can be hard to identify. But one kind of morale is almost universal: Feel good foods.

And the spicy pumpkins really did the trick; I didn't start rolling around helplessly, but it certainly lifted my spirits to a level much more sustainable, feeding energy back to my limbs as my heart felt fit enough to pump life giving blood once more.

'... do I even _have_ blood?' I tilted my head curiously, licking my chops as I walked away from the thorny bush behind me, 'Blood is so fragile, I can't imagine it could survive at several hundred degrees... but if not blood, what keeps me going? Magic?' I snorted, amused, 'Magic, right. Ki, maybe, but I'd like to avoid going down the "Magic is every solution" lane.'

As I approached the dwindling Pikachu gathering I started off at a slow trot, 'Well, Pokemon seem to be _made_ of energy, since that's how Pokeballs seem to work, so that's probably about right. Though the stuff that was caked in my fur the other day _seemed_ like blood; yeah, probably special high-temperature blood.' I wondered a bit at this, considering my thoughts, 'I wonder what it feels like to get caught in a Pokeball?'

Strangely, though my human side seemed intrigued by the notion, if none-too-thrilled at the idea of being made helpless so easily, my Vulpix side didn't seem to have any strong feelings on the matter either way. It recognized that they were there, but didn't seem to think that they were threat enough to worry about.

Finally I decided that I would likely someday try it out, but that I would have to find the right trainer first.

'There's that thought again. Someday I'm going to be finding a trainer, it's not really even a question, is it?' It took not even a moment of thought to answer, 'Nope, not a question. I'd rather do it myself, but there's only just so much I can do on my own.'

But before I went anywhere, I was going to have to first get myself in shape, so that I could at least be ready for battle; if I couldn't even battle properly I knew that most trainers wouldn't know what to do with me.

Or, more appropriately, I just wanted to go it alone for a while. No need to go off on a limb so soon after all, I'd just gotten here!

As I jogged by the group I saw Aik'sha, who seemed to have found a new playmate in the form of a male Pichu I didn't recognize; the two were tackling each-other and rolling about, sparking the whole time like a pair of fuzzy batteries.

'Except that batteries don't normally spark... Hmm, I need a better metaphor. Well, cute kids anyway.' Shrugging off such thoughts, I continued on to my burned out spot.

I didn't have the energy to run much, or to hit things, or... well, much of anything. But Meditation was something I _could_ do.

And would.

* * *

_'Vulpix.'_

I was standing in a calm, relaxed pose as I kept my mind focused on the flame.

There are many forms of and strategies to meditation; most of the simpler ones involve visualization of some form. More difficult sorts involve no visualizations, being considered more pure methods to gain true mastery over ones _self_, but of the visualization sort there was no end to the creativity.

Some would suggest that you see an egg, a shell to build around you; this shell is then meant to protect you spiritually. Others say that the shell, whether it be egg or sphere shaped, should be formed in miniature deep within you, then expanded, including the good energies and expelling the bad to make what is inside stronger as well as safer.

And there are many forms that involve flame. For reasons that I felt were apparent, this was what I thought of when I decided to meditate; it simply popped to mind.

I'd started by building a small, blue flame in my mind, which I placed in my belly. That was simple, I could have done so in my sleep. Maintaining it took concentration, especially since the slightest distraction could cause it to sputter and die.

_'Vulpix.'_

'Vulpix? What kind of a name is th- oh. Right. Is he talking to me?' With intense concentration, I had grown my tiny spark to a flame that towered over me, or by my estimation would if it were real, it would fill the whole of my little circle, towering to some four times my height (disincluding my tails). And as it had grown, so had my concentration, fully to the point where, with an interruption, I felt safe enough to be able to open my eyes and know the outside world once more.

There was a blue/orange haze around me, and as my eyes adjusted to seeing light again and sharpness of vision returned I understood; the haze wasn't a fog, it wasn't a light, it was a flame, roaring and guttoral, powerful and tame, blue and orange... Strange yet familiar, 'Interesting, I guess that proves I'm a real fire-type.'

Outside my flame I saw a Raichu looking at me; smell seemed to have been removed from the world, the flames burning away any and all chemicals that would normally carry scent to a nose that was entirely surrounded by said fire; because of this I found it difficult to immediately recognize Zapam, though familiarity with his voice and blank, smiling face quickly rushed in to fill the void, taking the place of a scent upon which I'd hardly realized just how heavily I'd come to rely. _'Zapam, did you call me?'_

Zapam didn't appear to make a true expression, merely standing and pulling the tip of his tail before him, revealing that there was a Magikarp speared to it, _'If you're going to train hard, you should eat well. We don't have that food humans give their Pokemon, but this will work almost as well, and tastes much better.'_

He stood there a moment, as though waiting for something; I however merely stared blankly at him for a moment, then spoke, _'Why would you do this for me?'_

Most of him didn't move, though he did bring his right forepaw to scratch his chin, _'I don't understand?'_

Most of my mind was occupied with holding a flame, burning slowly yet brightly as that very fire seperated me from the world beyond, and because of that my response was slow, my speech monotone, matching Zapams in that regard, _'I came to this place only two days ago; none of you or yours know me, yet all of you accept me. I could be a danger to you, but you let me sleep with you, and you feed me. Why?'_

He didn't respond right away, though halfway through my speech he tilted his head curiously, apparently in wonder at what I was getting to; when I was finished speaking he remained silent for a moment, _'You treat the young girl, Aik'sha well. Altair and Natty like you as well, I and the first-male find you interesting.'_

This time it was my turn to be silent, awaiting for a response to come bubbling up from the ether, an agonizing wait as my terribly slowed mental processes turned abused, overworked gears to try to understand what was going through them. One thing stuck, an image of Aik'sha smiling, waving one arm over her head, which had been thrown a bit to the side with the effort; I'd adored her from that first moment, _'I care for her.'_

He did not move, _'She is trusting.'_

I thought for a moment, my heart pumping in my chest, _'I... will not betray her trust.'_

Finally, he struck the killing blow, _'You want to protect her.'_

My eyes focused on him, but I only partly saw him; the flame around me said what little my eyes did not, suddenly flashing brightly before calming once more. Thoughts not even so coherent as to have images suddenly flashed through my heart and I spoke, _'She frightened me, when the Spearow attacked. She was strong but there were too many; I did what I could to help her, but I could not hope to save her myself. I know that there are many, much stronger things out there. I could have died as well, but somehow that does not hurt like seeing her curled up and bleeding.'_

_'You will be strong, I will help you. First you eat.'_

His tail beckoned, twitching slightly with a speared fish; I could not smell it though I knew that it would smell very good; I accepted, taking a step toward him. The response was that a small line of grass erupted into much more solid and visible flames that burned for a moment before being extinguished; the fire that surrounded me, though it felt incorporeal and cool to me, was apparently at least hot enough to start fires and burn.

I thought on this for a moment, then concentrated; the flames bent to my will and pulled back, becoming a cape that surrounded and towered over me, parting to the front to allow me to approach my benefactor without harming him or the grass upon which he stood.

Now even more distracted with the efforts of such control, I was sublimely unaware of what Zapam was doing as wonderful smells hit my nose, driving me to tear deliberately at the flank of the creature that was apparently a meal.

_'That is a strange skill.'_

I hardly noticed his words, mind wholly on what I was doing; getting distracted now could mean that someone would get hurt, the grass (and my food!) would be burned, and moreover it would be a painful failure in an exercise of self-control. I did not respond, hardly even realizing I was being spoken to.

_'I have seen fire before, but rarely blue. You grow more interesting with time. Your control is also impressive.'_

I responded, though not with words but merely a grunt of acceptance, being all that I could muster without losing my concentration.

_'Will you grow better with time? I want to see. We will help each-other that way. I will see you again soon.'_

I grunted again and he left, going inside the nest to do whatever it was the Raichu did in there.

It wasn't long after he'd left that I had another visitor, Aik'sha approached my clearing with that unnamed male, looking with curiosity at the blue flames that enshrouded me, _'You sure do got a lot of funny skills, what's this one called?'_

I considered her, smiling despite myself as I thought on her request; what _would_ I call it? I didn't even question why I was so ready to name it, I simply decided it needed a name. Really, only one name I could think of stuck, _'Fox fire.'_ I suddenly got a flash of Shippou, a young demon fox, yelling that name while throwing blue flame; it seemed to fit.

Keeping control was getting to be difficult already, Aik'sha and the food both affording rather potent distractions, so I decided to put the flame away, filing it to the back of my mind; it would fizzle, diminishing fairly quickly, but so long as I got back to it quickly it would still be better than starting over entirely.

Aik'sha marvelled at the blue fire that suddenly disappeared, _'Wow, that's so cool! How do you do it?'_

I smiled, feeling much more alert now that I wasn't distracted with such a great mental strain, _'It's very hard, and takes a lot of concentration.'_

She and the male twitched their noses, then she tilted her head, _'What's that?'_

_'What?'_

_'That! Concentration! What's that?'_ She approached me with a quick, almost rabbit-like hop, regaining her standing position to look at me curiously.

I blinked, _'Concentration?'_ It was such a simple thing, a concept that even a child should understand, that it took me a moment to realize that niether of the children before me understood it, _'It's when you think very hard about something, like...'_ I frowned as I tried to come up with an image that a Pichu would understand, though I didn't immediately come up with something. "Vulll..." Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration and smiled, _'Like if you saw a rock, and wanted to see if it was a Geodude or not, but not attack it. If you watched it for a really long time and waited for it to move, that would be close. If you watched close enough to see it breathing that would be really hard concentration! It's like paying really close attention to something.'_

The male tilted his head, _'That sounds really boring.'_ Aik'sha nodded her head in agreement.

I smiled, standing as my tails waved a bit, _'It is.'_

The male spoke again, _'Then why would you do it?'_

I shrugged, _'It's part of getting stronger; there's a lot of things it can help you do. Humans teach their Pokemon to.. um, use 'Focus Energy', and that's really just concentrating on attacking better.'_ Suddenly I wondered if these two would ever learn that skill; I couldn't remember if Pikachu would learn Focus Energy, but the Pikachu mindset didn't seem well-suited to it. The Raichu seemed to have a more sturdy, solid mindset better suited to concentration, but Pikachu seemed to jump from idea to idea, living in the present far more than the past or future.

'In fact, they act rather a lot like adolescents... Yeah, the Raichu are the real grown-ups, the Pichu are children, and the Pikachu are like teenagers, plenty of energy and they can make more babies, but still with some growing to do.' I considered this for a moment, smiling at my analogy. _'So who's your friend?'_

Aik'sha smiled as she grabbed the male's shoulder, _'His name is Ka'bo! He sleeps in one of the other rooms! He's much more fun than Ka'shi!'_

I tilted my head, smile still in place, _'What about your other brother?'_

She smiled, waving her haunches, _'Ti'ka still sleeps too much! He's even more boring than Ka'shi!'_ Ka'bo laughed, causing Aik'sha to tackle him in a roll.

I sighed, suddenly more aware of the soreness of my body, _'Sometimes I wish I had your limitless energy.'_

She smiled, _'Yeah! Then we could play more!'_ She and Ka'bo seperated, her giving me an excited look, _'Hey! Can you show us that thing!?'_

I tilted my head, _'Which thing?'_

Ka'bo gave Aik'sha a curious look as she responded, _'That blue fire thing! Can we see it?'_

I smiled, nodding, _'Okay, but it's hard to do so don't make too much noise or it might not work.'_ The Pichu nodded and I started, reaching back, far into my mind, to that place where things I'd filed away for later rested, awaiting for me to pull them forward again, and pulled forth that warm, strong feeling.

As I closed my eyes to better concentrate I felt a wave of strength engulf me, warm and pleasant as light crossed my vision, engulfing the world in a silent, comforting blanket.

I heard the children gasp in wonderment, though one of the voices seemed as confused as impressed.

There was something wrong though; for one, I was suddenly having trouble keeping my footing, and the other senses that told me about the outside world were warbling, complaining about suddenly being confused about something. Even my eyes, closed as they were, seemed to be swirling a bit as I stumbled and fell on my face. 'Wha? My face?' I shook myself, trying to shake off the feeling of... offness.

No longer wanting to concentrate, having other things to think about, I opened my eyes. The first thing I had to wonder about was why the others seemed further away, though I figured they'd have backed up to give me some room so it made sense.

The next thing I wondered on was why I'd landed on my face; ever since becoming a Vulpix landing on my face was... rather hard, for two reasons. The first reason was because my head was naturally locked in a horizontal position, pointing directly away from my body rather than perpendicular to it. The other reason was that my muzzle, that long mouth and nose combo, would get in the way.

_'Oh wow! That's even better!'_

Aik'sha nodded, agreeing, _'Yeah! I didn't know you could still do that!'_

Eyes wide, I stood on my rear paws and looked down at my forepaws: they were hand-like and yellow. "Pi...chu?"

* * *

**End Chapter 4**

* * *

Geeze that scene took a long time to get to. It was important that it happen, but at the same time I wanted it to make sense, and I was having trouble figuring out how to make it as such. What I have now feels, at least as of now, about as natural and real as anything else that happens in my mind. Though again, I'm one of the few people I know who would use lightning and palm trees to get to trains and chocolate. ... yes I said it, and yes I meant it. Hehehe.

On another note, lately because of this story I've found myself enamored with Foxes. Vulpes Vulpes, the common red fox specifically. I read a NebraskaLAND article on them and how one photographer documented the den-activities of a small family of two adults and four kits and was smiling the whole way through.

I'll always like Pikachu, and always use him in whatever Smash Bros. game comes out (I've heard he was totally weak in Melee but in MY hands he ROCKS!), but if they put Vulpix in there... ... that would be SOOO _YES!_

I doubt that such a Vulpix would transform at all, but I can just see the Final Smash: Evolve to Ninetails!

Its forward-B move would be Fire-Blast, neutral-B would be flamethrower not unlike Charizard or Bowser, down-B Firespin and up-B would be a rocket-blast not unlike Fox. Having six tails would make tail-based attacks reasonable and kicks and bites wouldn't be out of the question; she'd be about as fast as Pikachu though perhaps a bit lighter. ... yes, I've thought about it. grins

And on that note: Pikachu is losing! D: Stupid computer is bad at fighting properly! Well, at fighting it's okay, but it doesn't seem to understand that being off the platform is bad. -.-? Owell. Currently Lucario's ahead at 48 of 99 lives, Pikachu at 41 is second, then Dedede at 37 and Snake at 25. Snake is cool and all, but he really doesn't seem to do well in the Smash world. But then, in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, I can also see how he would be a REAL danger; those bombs and rockets and grenades and mortars... all of it explosive, much of it remote, and usually done fast enough in a lithe, experienced enough package (that being Snake himself) that I can see him being dangerous. Just apparently not so much in the hands of the computer.

I better finish this and start on the next chapter before I decide to try writing that Smash Bros. fic I came up with. I mean, do those drivers not NOTICE the people fighting on the road? And I KNOW I've seen Capt. Falcon knock one of those cars off the road with a Falcon Punch in Melee! (In fact, I think it's in the opening scene, or one of the promo vids if I remember right.) That just BEGS for a fanfic from the point of view of the Blue Falcon's driver as he gets knocked off the road with a Falcon Punch! "Falcon-" "Is that ME?!" "PUNCH!" "WHAT?! AAAAAABOOOM!" "Show me yer moves!" LOL!

... hehe, guess I got that out of my system. That was a short fanfic! XD Neways, review plz!

Alex Ultra: Distributor of Dementia  
LATER


	5. Chapter 5

Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

* * *

_'Oh wow! That's even better!'_

Aik'sha nodded, agreeing, _'Yeah! I didn't know you could still do that!'_

Eyes wide, I stood on my rear paws and looked down at my forepaws: they were hand-like and yellow. "Pi...chu?"

Ka'bo approached me closely, sniffing me curiously before standing with surprise, _'You're just like Aik'sha! That's so cool!'_

I blinked, feeling my face; Ka'bo was now as tall as I was! I was still silent when Aik'sha approached.

_'Can we play now!? Like last time?'_

I blinked wonderingly at her, _'Uh, just a sec.'_ I then patted myself down with chubby arms, feeling out my cubby little body that was hardly as big as my head; then I reached around and grabbed my tail, which was shorter and mostly black, following the pattern of the upper half of my body. I pulled on it a bit with an amused smile, _'It feels so funny! I only got one tail!'_ I tugged on it as I rolled to my side, giggling a bit in the doing.

_'You wanna play Now?'_

I grinned at Aik'sha, nodding before tackling her to a roll; suddenly a bit of playtime seemed much more appealing.

* * *

He wasn't the strongest in his bunch, far from it really, but that didn't mean that he was weak. Again, far from it. His group was simply large enough that even an average, or below average Fearow would be considered, at least amongst its own kind, World Class. Which made sense, since their flock consisted of a good thirty percent of the world's population of Spearow and Fearow; so many birds that each spring and fall the flock would seperate into many smaller groups, most of which had at least a few Fearow and many hundreds of Spearow. Some of these smaller flocks would congregate to live in a small territory relatively far from any other groups.

As a Fearow he wouldn't be staying with the Spearow of this flock, he'd be moving on to more plentiful pastures further north, but if for no other reason than for protection he, like most Fearow, was staying with the Spearow during migration.

He, like most high-flying predatory birds, had excellent vision; he could see a small yellow mouse on the ground from two miles up. Could, in fact, tell that the three of them were not looking up and had yet to notice his flock. It seemed like the perfect opportunity; sure, they were electric rodents and would likely give him a shock or two, but as a Fearow he was effectively two evolutions above them and sure that he could handle it. Besides, they were far from their group, and thus far from the protection of a large number of Pikachu, or even a single Raichu, were young and thus inexperienced, and wholly unaware of his presence. He was, after all, the fastest flier with the biggest wings, and thus the first of his flock to reach this point.

He also saw some fighting types on the nearby mountain, and knew that he'd have an easier time taking one of them out, but at the same time fighting types were notoriously gamey with none of the fat that a nice mouse had, not to mention all the dangerous rock-types that fight-types tended to hang out with.

To him it was simple, birds had been predating on small rodents for as long as they both had existed, and no true predator could resist catching a youngster unaware and unprotected; without even thinking about it, he dove, pulling his wings in for maximum dive speed, descending at a speed just one iota before total loss of control; from this range even a Raichu would be heavily damaged by a direct hit, a Pichu wouldn't stand a chance.

One of the Pichu noticed him as he was about halfway down; it wouldn't make much of a difference, but the 'chus had good eyes, they needed them to properly aim their electrical attacks at such a range.

One of them launched a shock at him, coming within a few yards of hitting him, then the other two joined in soon after. None hit him, not at this range, but they were remarkably close and left the air tasting of ionization. Further attacks would be amplified by this fact, but by then he would be too close for their attacks to have much of an effect on him.

One of the three of them attacked again right away, the other two flagging slightly though they soon joined in; he was only a few hundred yards away now and his wings were just barely avoiding being caught in the shocking sparks flying from the little creatures.

They then huddled a bit, as though thinking it would protect them, before they all sent out blasts at the same time, in a thick braid of electrical energy that rammed into him dead-on and caused him to scream out, "FEEEEAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!" But he would not be stopped! Not by tiny, underevolved mice!

'Oh no! It didn't work!' Fear was striking my heart as the Fearow approached; sparks jolted out of my cheeks as I shook a bit, 'Run towards it!'

Ka'bo shouted before I could make my thoughts known, _'Again!'_ Acting immediately I and Aik'sha obeyed as all three of us released another unified blast at the approaching predator, urgency causing us to put more into it than before; I really felt it as my body was shocked with the effort, nearly causing me to break formation as my body twitched a bit, my tail taking much of the excess but far and beyond inadequate for the task.

Our combined shock died out, leaving the three of us drained and twitchy but with no time to ruminate on it as I suddenly yelled out, _'This way!'_ And started running, crashing through the wall of fear that was driving me to run away; running away was a path to death, but instinct and fear was such a hard barrier that I almost couldn't bring myself to do what I knew best.

The other two didn't question it, merely taking off right along with me, their strong social ties giving them an immediate answer to such orders just as I'd answered Ka'bo's orders without thinking.

As we ran past I got a passing look at the Fearow as it came to the ground; it was nearly paralyzed apparently and actually hit the ground rather hard, though not hard enough to stun it. Acting without thinking I immediately turned around and gave it one last shock, followed quickly by the others before the three of us ran off, leaving the predator to shake off its paralysis as we made our way back to the colony, Ka'bo yelling out "PIIICHU PICHUPI!" as we ran, warning those who could hear that there was a Fearow coming.

Suddenly a large Pikachu came out of nowhere and put himself between us and the Fearow, causing it to second-guess its attack in mid-air, measuring the newcomer for a moment before continuing with one last lunge.

The Pikachu launched a powerful Thunderbolt attack and drove the Fearow off, then turned back around, still seeing battle, "Pika!" _'Run!'_ And we did so without question, the Pikachu keeping guard as we went, soon joined by another Pikachu as they led us back to the colony.

Only a few minutes later there was more electricity flying as a large number of brave Spearow started harassing the defensive ring, trying to draw a Pikachu out in the open where it could be isolated from the group. There were also a few Fearow diving a bit deeper into the group, but with so much electricity about with some thirty Pikachu still outside and joining in the defense (as well as a few Geodude that the birds had harassed to their own detriment), for the most part the attack had turned from dangerous to an annoyance.

The birds in turn seemed to have sensed this and chose to move on, flying off even as the flying electricity bounced amongst the clouds a bit, seeming to follow the enemy's retreat as a trio of Raichu made it outside for backup.

As I collapsed from exhaustion Aik'sha picked me up and shook me excitedly, _'That was so cool! How did you know it would miss!?'_

I shook my head to clear it, _'I, it's complicated.'_

Aik'sha smiled then started shaking Ka'bo, _'That was so smart! You're a really good leader!'_

Ka'bo recovered control of his head, then started scratching it, sparks coming from his cheeks with embarrassment, "Piiiichu-"

As the colony dispersed one of the three Raichu approached the center, where the Pichu (including myself) had been huddled. He focused in on Aik'sha and I and approached closer, directing his attention on me, _'Aik'sha what happened?'_

As I blinked stupidly Aik'sha ran to the elder and started explaining, with wide sweeping gestures and a loud voice, her take on what happened, _'Ka'bo and me were talking to miss Sari and then we wanted her to show us that funny fire thingy and she transformed into me and then we played for a while, that was really fun and then a Fearow came after us! It was really scary and we kept missing it but Ka'bo said to shoot it at the same time so we did and then we did it again and Sari said to follow her and the Fearow flew right over us and we shocked it again and ran here and then all the Pikachu started shocking all the Spearow and the Fearow and we won!'_

As I stared at the girl who was now (exactly) my size, I wondered how she'd managed to get that entire explanation out in what seemed like one breath, chattering hyperactively like a chipmunk on Speed suffering from an adrenaline high. She started breathing hard, sparks coming from her cheeks as she suddenly fell forward, eyes swirling and making random cute noises.

The Raichu, Karro if my nose was correct, looked with puzzlement between the real and faux Aik'sha.

Embarrassed, I waved, a tad more reserved in doing so than the real Aik'sha, "Piiichu pipichu." _'Hiii there, elder Karro.'_

He leaned down to my level and sniffed me curiously, _'How do you smell like Aik'sha?'_

I got down on all fours, not entirely comfortable with having to explain myself, _'I transformed into her, I'm really Sari...'_

He blinked, turning his head, _'I didn't know a Vulpix could transform?'_

I laughed nervously, _'Me either! I just did!'_

He nodded, standing once more, _'Oh, are you part Ditto?'_

I shook my head, _'I don't! think.. so?'_ It shouldn't have been possible, but who knew? I didn't know if this body even HAD parents, let alone who, or what they'd been. And if it didn't then that could mean just about anything. For all I knew, I really Could have been a Ditto and not known it, staying transformed as a Vulpix while still able to transform into other things.

Ka'bo approached, _'She was going to show us that blue fire thing, but instead of that this happened! It was really cool!'_

A sudden voice drifted up from the ground, "Piiiiichupi-" I couldn't pick out what was being said, being effectively gibberish, but it was a nice way to cap the conversation as Karro picked the little girl up off the ground.

_'I think it's time to nest.'_ He then stood, little one in hand and yelled out, _'Pichus follow me!'_ He then started walking off as we did as told, most of us on all fours as we paced behind the commanding presence of the elder. The Pikachu seemed to have gotten the message as well and, though some dispersed to places unknown, a fair number of them remained, keeping the Pichu herded in place as continued lightning bolts arced through the air.

We were about halfway there when my body suddenly gave out and, in a flash of multichromatic light I was suddenly thrown into a confusing discontinuation of sensation, followed by a return of feeling larger than the Pichu around me, who other than a few curious looks kept following their elder.

I shook my head a few times to clear it, wondering for a moment why I hadn't questioned Karro's order. As a Pichu it had felt natural and I'd followed that feeling unquestioningly, wanting to get inside anyway, but now as a Vulpix I was feeling... well not rebellious, but not quite so desperate to obey. 'I suppose that makes sense though.'

A Pikachu approached me from behind just as I was getting back into the walk, _'How did you do that?'_

_'I... transformed, into a Pichu earlier. I think it helped, fire isn't as strong against birds, but I kinda wish I had chosen a Pikachu or a Raichu instead.'_

The female smiled, _'Yeah! Then you'd have been bigger and that Fearow wouldn't have been so quick to pick on you!'_ She punched the air with enthusiasm then descended back to all fours to keep pace, as slow as that was.

I nodded with a smile, 'Though I wouldn't have been any stronger. Transform only changes form and skills, it keeps the stats the same.' I shook my head, 'That just means I have to keep getting stronger!' I nodded decisively.(1)

_'Is something wrong?'_

I flinched, _'Huh?'_ Then I realized that I'd practically been wearing my thoughts on my shoulder, _'Oh! No, nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking!'_

She gave me a curious look, _'About what?'_

I grinned nervously, _'About getting stronger! I need to get lots stronger!'_

She seemed puzzled for a moment, _'Why?'_

_'Because... I do. And I want to protect Aik'sha.'_

_'Oh. Is that why you were fighting with the eldest this morning?'_

I nodded, _'He's going to help me to get stronger!'_

_'Isn't it tiring though?'_

I nodded, "Vul."

_'If you're tired how can you fight later?'_

I thought on that, turning my head to watch where we were going. It made sense, if I was too tired to do much after training, it would make a real fight that much tougher. However, _'The faster I get stronger, the sooner I'll be able to really help. Right now I feel like I barely know how to fight at all. I can; it's just I've never done too much of it before...'_

_'Oh, okay. I hope it works for you!'_ As we walked she kept eyeing the sky, warily watching the flock of Spearow that continued to fly overhead. I didn't blame her, we were nearing the door and as we started going through it that would likely leave fewer and fewer individuals outside, they becoming a more and more tangible target as they had fewer and fewer backup available.

And when I realized this I also started noticing some more of the agitation around me, cycling through the group like a living thing; the Pikachu had grouped into a bundle at the rear, evenly spaced at around three feet each, with me included in that formation to my surprise; the two Raichu that had come out with Karro were now taking up flanking positions near the door and standing there, visibly guarding the door as though they'd been there the whole time; which, I realized, was exactly the case. I hadn't noticed it before but I remembered that there had been two Raichu at the entrance almost every time I'd passed through it since arriving, just out of casual sight but there in scent and likely in body, keeping watch to be sure nothing dangerous got inside.

I didn't know how much of their behavior was automatic, whether by instinct or through learned behavior, or whether they sat around thinking up ideas, but the depth to which things went around here suggested that this group was, if nothing else, remarkably well-adapted to both their lifestyle and living environment. And considering that the games' Pokedexes said that Pikachu typically lived in forests, I could only guess that these behaviors were learned, marks of a local culture that was well-suited to this place and this group only.

After all, the deep sky wasn't as much of a concern when you had trees over your head.

Soon enough we were inside, which was just as well since at that moment those nice, puffy white clouds had started turning dark and were soon pouring water on the land, angry lightning spreading across the sky as if in response to the attack only minutes earlier.

'When enough Pikachu gather they can start Thunderstorms. Never thought I'd see it with my own eyes though. I guess that they have to throw that energy out to make it happen, though, otherwise it'd be storming here all the time.' I gave the rain a wary look, 'I bet that rain would hurt, too. Really good timing, that.' I chuckled to myself and continued on, working my way through the milling throngs of Pokemon, mostly Pikachu with the occasional Voltorb and Electrode (both more active than usual, actually rolling about rather than simply sitting around, likely awakened by the storm outside); why, I even saw a few grimer milling about!

'Huh, wonder why I haven't seen any grimer 'till now?' I tilted my head, 'I could ask, but this place is so clean that I guess I wouldn't have expected to see them anyway.' I tilted my head the other way, 'But the game made it seem like there were more than that many here. Wonder why?'

I spotted Altair and made my way over to him, stopping only a couple feet away, _'Hey Altair!'_

"Pi?" He turned to me and smiled, waving in greeting, "Chaa!"

I smiled back, _'Hey, can I ask a question?'_

He tilted his head, "Pi?"

_'I heard that there's supposed to be lots of Grimer in human places like this, but I only see two or three...? Wasn't there supposed to be more?'_

He thought on this, _'When I was real little there were more, but then humans came and... did something to the human things, and the Grimer just started going away. There used to be Muks too!'_ He nodded decisively, _'But they were the first to go. Good thing, too, I remember they used to fight alot.'_

I smiled, suddenly remembering that episode. It had been in the first series when Ash's Pikachu had gotten a cold and those Magnemite fell in love with him, presumably from the magnetic field he was making; the Power Plant for that city had then gone out and the gang had to go fight the Grimer and Muk that had blocked the sludge output pipes. I could only imagine that the people had decided to clean things up.

Though that plant had been inside a city, this one wasn't. But then, if it was a problem in one place, they'd likely get the word out to solve it elsewhere lest the same thing happen there. It would help explain why I'd failed to smell much pollution since arriving.

Of course, get enough animals all in one place and they'd still make a mess, perhaps that's where the Grimer had come from, driven inside by the rain.

I sighed, _'I'm going to sleep. With the sun gone there's nothing better to do.'_

He smiled, "Pika."

* * *

He grinned, looking at his companion, "Things seem to be going well, no?"

She didn't respond much, "Perhaps."

He tilted his head, grinning widely, "I like what your little friend did, it makes things interesting at least."

She nodded, "Interesting enough."

He chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll keep my end of the bargain. For now I think I'll watch, this little game is rather interesting."

She did not respond right away, idly fingering her shoulder-length black hair, piercing blue eyes gazing into a blazing pinpoint of light as though it held the answers to the Universe and All That Was. "Sure. Whatever."

He laughed, "Always so calm! Can't you be excited from time to time!?"

"Perhaps, but my excitement is behind me, Dementian."

Dementian grinned, "You see? It's a wonderful name, isn't it!? I just LOVE IT! DEMENTIAN! DEMENTIANDEMENTIAN! I want a World to shout it out loud! Wouldn't that be so very exciting?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes yes, you like yelling. We get it."

His grin never left, though his voice became quiet, "Be that or no, the game goes on. We'll see how things turn out, won't we?"

"I suppose we will."

* * *

I awoke early in the morning with Zapam quietly speaking to me in the dark, telling me to awaken, giving me the feeling that if I denied him this for too long he would force the matter with a minor application of electrical energy to the pertinent parts of my body.

While I felt a quick shock would likely do the job, I didn't necessarily want to feel one if I could avoid it; feeling it in training, when I was ready for it, was bad enough.

My body was still a tad sore from all the excitement the day before, and as I walked the pads of my paws complained at the sudden abuse, having grown used to the consistent pressures of sleep, whereas now the alternating pressures of walking had them hurting with each step, though they adapted quickly enough. More worrying was the pain in my shoulder; I hadn't been abusing it, per-se, but it appeared that a spot just inside my shoulder blade was going to become one of those persisting pains, the kind that lasted until the problem that brought it about was solved, namely weakness and a lack of proper adaptation.

The first growing pains were starting to become apparent, and I had plenty of growing left. This was going to be a real joy.

It didn't take long for us to reach the clearing we'd been using to train, whence Zapam turned around and afforded me a blank, vaguely amused look that could have had just about anything behind it.

_'Vulpix.'_

I moved to a ready position, crouching ever so slightly, though a twinge of pain from my shoulder forced me to adjust it just a mite, _'Yes?'_ I didn't question his address, he simply called me Vulpix, the same as a human calling someone 'child' or 'boy', 'girl' or any other number of unspecific moniker of address. It worked well enough, too, considering I was the only Vulpix that any of the 'chu's knew about.

Besides, it helped to remind me that, yes, that's exactly what I was at the moment. I didn't know if he'd intended it that way, but I suppose unintentional reminders can be the most effective.

_'You transformed into a Pichu yesterday.'_ It wasn't a question, it was a statement; apparently he kept up with what was said amongst those in the colony. That or Aik'sha had told him.

I nodded, remembering the strangely familiar awkwardness of it and the force of that form's habits. _'Yes, it was an accident. I was just as surprised as I was the first time.'_

He was silent for a moment, then spoke again, _'Change into me.'_

I blinked, my jaw opening with disbelief as I backed away, aghast; did he seriously expect me to just be able to transform on demand? It wasn't even supposed to be possible! I could try metronoming again, but the chances of a transform coming out of it were practically nil!

I stopped myself. When I became a Pichu I hadn't been metronoming, at best I'd only been meditating, though even that was questionable considering that it'd been the process of starting meditation that had led to such a result. Suddenly impossible held a question mark.

_'I... can try?'_

_'Don't try, just do.'_

I backed up another step; it was such a strange idea to be confronted with. Transformation was an idea that most could only dream of being able to do, suddenly having it thrust in your face was almost... scary. It was like a child wishing to have strength and then becoming afraid of the possibilities it represented, but only after having taken it; bearing a gun was a cowboy dream, but the responsibility it forced on its bearer was frighteningly heavy.

Likewise, being a Vulpix that could transform was an equally dangerous idea, but at the same time alluring...

Mind made up, I searched my mind, doing my best to shut out the outside world. What I found was almost laughable.

For most of the skills that I'd Metronome'd out of nowhere I'd simply taken note that they'd happened and then not thought on them past that, but as I did it more and more I now realized that I'd started noticing them better and better, even remembering the pulse of energy that passed through me as they occured. And though I held no hope of pulling off a water gun attack, having no idea, even subconsciously, what sort of forces had allowed it, I found that I was somehow much more familiar with the Thunderwave that had occured much later in my little practice session.

And now, sitting there in the back of my mind like a little button waiting to be pressed, was that same energy that had nearly ripped my body to shreds the first time I'd felt its effect. Subconsciously I knew what it was, and again I was almost afraid to touch it, so for a moment I instead searched for anything else that I might have collected back in that strange filing cabinet that was my mind.

The blue fire had gone, though there was a place for it, reserved only a small distance from Transform, and not far from that was where the trigger for releasing my Vulpix form's natural fire had laid itself. For a moment I feared that I'd only have four spaces, four places for such things, but I waved that off as silly. Besides, Metronome wasn't there, and as such I figured that the four memory slots was just a convention used to keep the game balanced and sane. Chances were that I'd really remember what I used, as happened in real life; if I didn't use it I'd lose it, if I used it I... well, wouldn't lose it.

I shook myself, realizing that I was thinking too much and that Zapam was getting impatient. Acknowledging his request, I gave him a determined look as I jabbed, then pulled on that little spot in my mind, opening up the file and sifting through its contents, trying to understand the pieces to the puzzle even as I automatically put it together.

This time I didn't just 'feel' the energy in my body, I actually watched as it integrated itself into my various systems, flowing through me like blood through veins, spreading to every part of my body as it started its work.

This time my mind was not passive as it happened, I could feel the ground seem to shrink beneath me as I grew larger, I could feel my bones rearranging, seeming to become mush before resolidifying. My body fattened, all four of my legs altering slightly as my tails seemed to squeeze together and lengthen in a manner that struck me as inherently unnatural and even somewhat disturbing.

My muzzle shortened, eyes widening somewhat even as my cheeks became large, filling with by-now familiar power even as I subconsciously straightened to a vertical standing position, my neck telling me that holding a horizontal position was uncomfortable as it required me to hold my head in an unpreferable position.

And as the transformation finished, I realized that I had also become male, which was strange in its own right.

Zapam seemed pleased, _'Aik'sha was right, that was cool.'_ He groomed one of his ears in what seemed a nervous gesture as I scratched the back of my neck in a similar manner.

As I had the night before, I curiously pulled on my new tail, almost twitching in disappointment at the fact that there was only one. Though the ability to stand upright and use my forepaws for more than locomotion gave me some reason to not be too angry. _'It still feels funny.'_

He tilted his head, _'What does?'_

_'Having one tail.'_

He seemed amused at this, _'Having more than one seems stranger to me.'_

I gave it a few swings, experimenting with it; the tails of Pichu and Pikachu had been relatively solid, but this Raichu tail was longer, thinner and more flexible and I found that I could control it better.

Zapam gave me a few moments to experiment, then stated, _'We'll start now. Stay that way.'_ Then the fight was on.

I didn't really do any better than I had as a Vulpix in that fight, at best I was more resistant to his electricity; in fact, other than the exchange of fire for electricity, it wasn't all that different. I was still vastly outclassed, though this only made me want to try harder.

That fight, or at least the training that took the form of a fight, lasted some two hours and was, to that point, the longest I'd held a transformation, which wasn't saying much really. After all, it was only the third time I'd transformed, and the first time to have done so on purpose. Well, excluding the initial change to a Vulpix that had started this whole thing off.

A bunch of other members of the colony came out after a while and suddenly the fighting changed; Zapam stopped holding back so much on his electrical attacks and started moving around much faster and more forcefully. On the other side of things I also started taking cues from the others, subconsciously mimicking their fighting styles even as they seemed to be essentially giving me right-of-way, likely believing me an elder due to my appearance (let alone scent, which was likely identical to the very Raichu they were fighting).

An interesting phenomenon was when the Pikachu and Pichu became confused and started attacking me as well. It forced me to adapt to an increase in the pace of fighting, but I also got a few strong zaps and a solid bodyslam out of it before they realized that I wasn't so much of a challenge as the real Zapam was. After that they seemed to have latched onto the fighting style to see which one was him and which one wasn't. This didn't completely stop the confusion, but it slowed it down a bit, for which I was quietly thankful.

The sun was starting to shine in earnest when I finally ran out of endurance and was forced to drop my transformation, actually physically collapsing as I gasped for air, both physically and mentally exhausted. Zapam tried to rouse me a couple of times, to no avail; I'd have liked to break myself down even further, but I had nothing left, I was as broken down as I could get.

'This must be what it feels like to hit zero hp.' After a few minute's rest I wondered on that thought, 'I wonder if those sweet berries would help much?' A few minutes later I had recovered enough of my breath to be able to crawl away from the battlezone, where the fur (and electricity) still flew.

As I got away I found that, without even really wanting to, I had started thinking about, and being glad to have five tails again. It was a silly, unnecessary thought that I was immediatly shamed to have, but there just the same.

It was some time before I'd gotten enough oxygen in me to be able to stumble about semi-reliably. At this point I wasn't simply tired, I was also growing hungry and thirsty as well, and as my muscles cooled the pain was becoming more debilitating than the fatigue itself as I started limping more than walking, leaning on my left side rather heavily.

When I got to the fruit bushes there were a few Pikachu there, some eating with some gathering and others simply socializing; I approached, gaining the attention of a few of the more observant ones, but making little fuss as I came, which was somewhat surprising since I didn't necessarily recognize most of them and could only imagine that they didn't recognize me either.

I looked at the fruit remaining on the branches of the wildly growing bushes and sighed. They were too high to be easily plucked.

I backed away a few steps, then fell to the ground, really just wanting to sleep for a while. I almost succumbed to that desire when Altair approached me, seemingly out of nowhere.

_'Wow, you look really beat up.'_

My eye ticked, _'Thanks.'_

_'I bet you're hungry, want one?'_ Altair pointed at the fruits growing just beyond my reach.

I smiled appreciably, nodding in real gratitude, _'Yes please.'_ He smiled and climbed a foot or so to reach a nearby fruit, plucking it before leaving it at my feet, quickly going off to get another for himself. _'Wait.'_

He stopped just short of the bush, looking back at me curiously as I stood with no small amount of effort, _'What for?'_

I shook myself, _'I'm- gonna try something.'_

He approached me curiously, _'Really? What?'_

I smiled, _'Just stand there for a while.'_ He did, curiousity clearly marked on his face as I concentrated.

It took some effort with how tired I was, but it wasn't long before I found that strange little box in my mind and pulled it open, carefully removing its contents, which then spread out to do their thing.

The size difference between a Vulpix and a Pikachu is effectively negligable, but that didn't stop me from stumbling as my forelimbs shortened ever-so-little.

Suddenly it struck me that the process didn't hurt as it had the first time; normally one would think that turning bones, muscles, and especially nerves to mush in order to re-form them would hurt, rather a lot as it had that very first time, but contrary to that at this point all I'd felt was a bit of disorientation, which lasted a few moments before things settled down. .. and I realized I was male again.

Altair tilted his head curiously as I stood and I responded by holding up one finger-esque claw and walking to the bush, where I mimicked, however slowly, his actions from before, climbing my way to a nearby fruit, which I then plucked before gingerly making my way back down the meager two feet I'd climbed, walking proudly back to Altair who seemed just as dumbstruck as he was awestruck as I gave him what I'd gained from my little adventure.

_'That's neat!'_ He took what I'd given him and started eating it as I picked mine up and did the same.

'Yeah, neat. This holds possibility.' I smiled despite my pain as I ate the thing that practically revived me from the dead.

* * *

**"Tell me something, Mew. What is it you see in that one?"** The answer was silent, even by telepathic standards, though with practice he'd come to understand what it meant. **"I'm sure I will, I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to simply tell me."** Again, the pink being before him seemed to smile more than speak, and again he understood what she was getting at, more than anyone else could ever hope to. **"If you will not tell me I know not to prod, but what will you do now?"**

Mew floated away a bit, smiled, did a backflip, smiled some more, and mewed happily as she floated away. She wanted to play.

Mewtwo sighed; chances were she'd draft one of the clones if he didn't come, not that he ever did, he was too serious for that. Still, a good battle from time to time was something that he sometimes would participate in. Nothing so serious as the first time he and a Mew had fought, but something to stretch their muscles out, so to speak.

Still, that saying-without-speaking thing got annoying really quickly. Even speaking in Mew-tones would be preferable, this other sort gave him headaches.

* * *

As tired as I was I wasn't able to hold the transformation for very long, hardly lasting long enough to eat the fist-sized fruit that now took up a fair portion of my stomach.

Of course, I now knew that I could eat more, but for some reason each time I ate one of these strangely powerful fruits I just felt more full than when I ate meat, which was strange considering that all canid's, including foxes, are carnivores. Wolves, foxes, coyotes, dogs, all canines so epitomized the classic meat-eater that their name was really the definition of predatory mammals: The canine teeth, the third tooth from the center on both sides, both on top and bottom; this was the classic sign of predation in a mammal, and it was named after the canine class of animals, of which I now was.

But then if one were to judge an animal, let alone a Pokemon, based solely on its classification, one would assume that a Pikachu was a small prey item that would sooner run than fight, multiplying rapidly to live a very short life of perhaps no longer than that of a rabbit, a similarly-built animal of similar size. Looking at its class one could assume that it would subsist entirely on tubers, nuts and plant roots.

The problem with such assumptions was that it payed attention to the animal's roots, leaving the animal itself as little more than an image put into a preassumed lifestyle. Pikachu would have a hard time keeping a low profile, especially with the blindingly bright warning color of yellow emblazoned boldly across its entire body, and the glowing red orbs of its cheeks screaming alarm to any predator capable of picking out color, which was a lot of them. Their attacking specialty requiring sharp eyes to guide, eyes too sharp to be those of a prey-item but perfectly suited to something more apt to fight than flee.

Then came the teeth, with those classic canines all long and thin and wholly useless for gnawing on tubers, let alone the hard shells of the nuts that would be their best source of protien if not for meat.

'Why am I thinking about this again? Oh right, I was surprised at how much fruit I was eating. Bah, maybe Vulpix take after bears that way, bears and dogs have a pretty close common ancestor after all. Heh, I'd love to have met a Beardog, they sound like an interesting sort.'

Tilting my head, I considered my thoughts, 'It's kind of interesting that I'm not more bothered by being a dog. Well, fox.' I tilted my head the other direction, 'Now that I think of it, I guess foxes aren't very dog-like. They're more cat-like, solitary rather than social hunters.' I tilted my head to the left again, 'Makes sense, it'd help explain why I'm so disturbed by having others hunt for me. I'd much rather be self-sufficient... more like a cat, I guess.' Again, my head turned back to the right, 'But then, foxes are still canines, still capable of being social, just... not as focused on it.' My head turned back the other direction as I remembered a story I'd read in a conservationist's magazine some time ago. Or was it hunting? Was it even in a magazine? I couldn't remember.

The Gray Wolf had been eliminated from Yellowstone National Park for many, many decades, and the prey-items that had once been theirs and theirs alone had come forth to have run of the place; the foxes, too, no longer had to worry about the area's top predator out-competing them. It had caused quite the ruckus amongst the research community when those very foxes were seen gathering in groups, acting out very complicated group hunting tactics remarkably similar to those of the very wolves that were missing from the area, taking down animals that were even larger compared to themselves than those same animals were to the wolves that had once predated them.

The unintentional experiment then ended with the reintroduction of Gray Wolves from Canada, whom quickly reinstated the previous order of things; taking their place as top predator, fighting off Cougars and driving the Foxes back to solitary lifestyles.

And I, in a similar vein, allowed myself to be in this band of social predators (or at the very least generalists), while at the same time not quite merging with their society as closely as the Pikachu were. Rather, I was tending to follow the names and faces (or rather, smells mostly) of only a few individuals, rather than mingling and socializing constantly as they were doing.

As my consideration of my thoughts started to wind down I had one more question to ask: 'Why do I keep rocking my head back and forth? Heh, you'd think I was metronoming!' As I laughed internally at this, I noticed just how much room I was being afforded, 'Huh, maybe that's why everyone's giving me such a wide berth.' I laughed again at this, tilting my head once more in amusement, 'Well if it works! Playtime has its place, it shouldn't be so constant. But I guess with no real territory to speak of there's no need for a patrol, and there's nothing to explore around here.' I tilted my head in what was quickly becoming a habit, 'I guess there's really nothing better to do here on this little island.' Again, my head turned the other way, 'Still, I get the feeling that this is just the calm before the storm; the humans got rid of their last problem, the Grimer and Muk, now they need a new problem or else they'll start becoming their own problem, needing more resources than nature can provide in such a small area. The river will give fewer Magikarp, the berries not grow quickly enough.' Tilt, 'If not a poison type, I suppose something else would need to fill the role of agitator. A Sandslash would fill that role well enough.' Tilt, 'It probably wouldn't like the waterlogged ground here, but it could always stick to the mountain, above the waterline.' Tilt, 'Then again, such would be likely to cause landslides, if it can even dig through stone so solid.' Tilt, 'An angry Gyarados would be dangerous, but not really fill the antagonist role very well considering its marked disadvantage.' Tilt, 'I know as well as any serious player that Gyarados is big and strong, but only with a little bit of special def.'

_'Say, Miss Sari, are you metronoming over here?'_

I turned my gaze on the little voice that had interrupted my thoughts, and suddenly I felt guilty. I had just been thinking about the many ways that Aik'sha's colony could be culled, knowing full-well that it was the young, old, and infirm that would be the first to go, the very individuals that my human psyche most sought to protect. Even that part of my mind that I attributed to my Vulpix nature (or 'instincts') agreed that endangering children was a no-no.

Of course, the predator in me still considered the young of prey items to be fair game. Like Ratata, Pidgey (no! No!), Caterpie (huh?), even Weedle and the cocoon Pokemon (namely Kakuna and Metapod) if one could be made off with and somehow broken open.

'Why am I suddenly seeing Caterpie as food, anyway? ... well I guess fire is super effective against bug-types, and Caterpie just have string-shot and tackle. Weedle are more dangerous, but them's the breaks and all that.' I shook my head, noticing that Aik'sha was starting to get wary in my silence, _'Sorry, no I'm not Metronoming. Just thinking.'_

She tilted her head curiously, _'About what?'_

_'A lot of things. I suddenly want to eat a Caterpie, even though I've never even seen one for real.'_

She laughed, _'You haven't!?'_ Then she stopped, _'Me either! Now I wanna see one too!'_

I chuckled, _'What about Weedle? They're poisonous.'_

She shifted her head to the side in thought, _'Yeah...'_ Then she grinned cockily, curling up and sending sparks shooting from her cheeks, _'But I can shock 'em! I wouldn't even hafta get close! They wouldn't get the chance to sting me!'_ "Piiiiii-"

I chuckled, _'Well your confidence is obvious. But there are no such things here, are there?'_

_'Nope! Say, you wanna play? Or can you show me that fire thing from yesterday?'_ She descended to all fours as she begged to me with bright eyes to entertain her.

'These Pichu really need something to do. No wonder her brothers lie around so much, with so little to do. Of course they _do_ play, just not as much as their sister.' _'I'm sorry, but it would take a lot of time to make that work. I can't just spit it from my mouth like with the regular kind.'_ Suddenly I was struck, entertained by the notion that I was taking fire coming from my mouth as being such a normal thing.

_'Oh, well you wanna play anyway? Hey! Maybe you can change into me like yesterday!'_

If I'd had sweat glands, I might have sweatdropped. Canines, though, have no such things and as a fire-type I had no use for them anyway. That didn't mean I didn't try, of course, _'I'd rather not risk a repeat of yesterday. Two little Pichu look a lot less threatening than a Pichu and a Vulpix. Besides, I can't stay changed like that for very long. Still.'_ I stood, stretching my back and causing a few joints to pop, _'I think I can handle a game or two...'_ I saw Aik'sha suddenly beam like the sun itself, _'I hope...'_

* * *

As it turned out, I did _not_ have a whole lot of energy for games, in part because I'd never much enjoyed them, even as a wee spore of a human child. I tried, but being so much larger than the Pichu that played around me, I felt more like I was supervising than enjoying.

It was at about the point when I realized this that I suggested something new. Well, new to the Pichu anyway.

I asked the kids to find something that would stand on its own but could be pushed over. They didn't know why I wanted such a thing, but they went off to find something of the like anyway.

This alone proved to be a daunting task, though the Pichu were quite adamant about fulfilling the request properly, truly seeing the search as a game of its own, almost eliciting a form of hunting behavior as they searched in some of the oddest places for such a thing. (One even asked some Voltorb if they could move over so he could get a better look underneath them; interestingly they complied, though two of them collided and spontaneously discharged in violent explosions, leaving the rest of them rolling about, some of them exploding randomly and a few even making it outside.)

It didn't help the search that I didn't have a solid idea of what I wanted, just something that could be knocked over easily but stable enough to stay in one area, either standing or not, on its own.

Of similarly interesting note was when I found a bunch of Pichu wobbling about and crashing into things, including each-other. I was puzzled by their suddenly odd behavior, that is until I noticed some bats roosting in the corners of the ceiling overhead; apparently the little rodents had disturbed the bats' nest and been flashed with a Confuse Ray (or perhaps blasted with Supersonic), thus leading to them rolling strangely on the floor with swirls in their eyes.

For a moment I wondered why I'd never noticed the bats before, but I supposed that bats, being nocturnal, were active when I was asleep and thus I had no reason to notice them. So long as nothing disturbed them they'd stay latched to the ceiling, mostly asleep.

It was quite a while before I noticed it, sitting quietly atop a table in a place that I couldn't see very well from my position near the floor. Apparently, before the workers of this place had (apparently) abandoned it (remote management?), someone decided that they wished, in this remote place, to have a reminder of someone important to them enshrined upon a corner table, sitting innocently out in the middle of a hallway.

I'd have never discovered it, actually, if a pair of Pichu hadn't asked if the table itself would be suitable, nearly setting up to kick it over before I stopped them, _'You'll break it!'_

One of them had looked at me, then at the table strangely, _'What's so great about it?'_

I didn't know what to say, _'Well, it's...-'_ Of course, I needn't have bothered, as the other Pichu had decided to investigate, climbing the thing to get a better look at it.

_'Hey! What's this thing!? Will it work?'_

She held it over the edge, pointing at it curiously as I looked up to see what she was talking about.

My silence almost spoke for me, _'Stay there, don't move.'_ I looked around a bit... _'Okay, drop it down to me, I want to see it.'_

She happily complied, dropping it down directly into my waiting tails, which I had splayed out for exactly that purpose.

As the Pichu gathered curiously I looked at the thing, gingerly pawing at the clasps on the back. I didn't want the glass, or even the frame really, just the wooden back part.

I grumped a bit as I started realizing that this task was... rather difficult... 'Stupid paws, I can barely use them any better than toes...' I pouted, 'Because they ARE toes.' I sighed.

_'Say, what are you doing to it anyway?'_

I looked at the Pichu... then stopped, _'Hey, stand there for me, okay?'_

_'Huh? Okay.'_

She nodded and I reached back... again, going back to that little box... (button?) and... activating it...

_'Oh wow, that's cool! How'd you do it?'_

I shook my head, trying to shake off the feelings of... strangeness. _'I don't know, I just know I can.'_ Ignoring the attention I nodded my big yellow head and reached forward with little yellow hands, reaching for the clasps.

Though my hands were small, they were remarkably dextrous, making short work of the clasps holding the picture-frame together. Such it was that it wasn't long before I simply pulled the back bit straight out, leaving frame, glass, and picture behind. _'Got it!'_ I smiled as I handed the thing to the smiling faces around me; two of them carried it off to show to the others as one other ran ahead to announce the discovery.

I smiled as I watched them go, for a moment wanting to follow. I stayed, though, wanting to get a better look at the picture that the Pichu were so ready to ignore.

There was a man in the picture, smiling and holding up a younger boy; both were wearing white labcoats, though that seemed their only similarity, being that the larger one had black hair where the younger was blonde. 'Well I guess they're both smiling, but that's only to be expected.'

I placed the picture on the floor, placed the glass directly atop that, then left the frame around that. I'd put it together later...

I looked up, up at the table that now truly towered over me, 'If I can get it back up there. How did she climb that without knocking it over anyway!' I grumped as I looked at it, suddenly standing with my hands in fists, as though challenging the thing; I almost snorted, though resisted.

'Hey wait... I could climb it!' I looked at my paws, then smiled... then grimaced, 'Aw man, not now!'

It wasn't to be; I was too tired to hold the transformation for long, and after a quick bout of strange feelings I was back to being purely four-legged. 'Bah, either I need more practice or I'm still too tired for unnatural things.' I shook it off, turning away from curious tables to go the way of the Pichu (specifically the ones carrying my hard-won thingy-mabob).

* * *

While we were unable to find any cans, Kick-The-Thingy was an appropriate-enough name for the game that I'd cobbled up out of memories of a long-ago game that I hadn't played since I was little.

Of course the concept of 'Home' initially escaped their understanding: Rather than those that hid darting to home once the thingy had been kicked, ALL the Pichu, including Aik'sha (the first one to be 'It') had darted to the tree, pleased with victory.

This elicited another try, whence I guided the Pichu through the game; they got it quickly enough, even adding their own twists as they started using non-contact attacks to slow each-other down, both to catch and to prevent capture. Charm was a favorite tactic, making the tagger slow down ever-so-slightly, while Tail-Whip had become a favorite 'It' tactic, making the one to be tagged slow down a bit.

The display seemed funny to me in part because at times they spent so much time 'Attacking' that they forgot about 'Tagging'. Why one little battle went on so long that the other Pichu, clinging to tree branches, went to cheering both sides on, completely forgetting about kicking the Thingy.

Eventually, though, the sun had to set and the Pichu had to sleep; my little game had captivated them for a time, but now it was coming to be time for sleep.

I grabbed the thingy, for which even my human mind refused to provide an adequate name, and made my way inside, where I stayed awake for some time before finally falling asleep.

* * *

**End Chapter 5**

* * *

(1) : After having written this, I read about Transform on the Bulbapedia; according to their records, Transform actually does change the user's stats, just not their HP or their color Pallete (which is odd, since Ditto in the show did, indeed, change colors). For now, I'll let Sari assume that this isn't so. And for the curious: Aik'sha was the better attacker of the three Pichu's at the beginning of this chapter.

Well that's it for this chapter. Technically I decided that that was the end because I had set up a scene-change and couldn't remember what scene I wanted to put there, while the next scene I can remember a-t-m (at the moment) is something intended to be the opener for the next chapter. Hehe.

At any rate: Yay! ... nope, not sure why I decided to say that. On another note: I almost poisoned my will to continue this fic, but I found the cure! Or, I suppose, Mew found the cure. Don't ask. XD For now, I shall forge ahead!

From here on the story will start moving just a tad faster, there will be more time-skips because trying to cover several years of stuff on a day-by-day basis, as the beginning has been (mostly), would be icredibly hard and time-consuming.

I have also decided (somewhat) that this story will be seperated by Books; the first book will last for Sari's time with the Pikachu. Not sure how long the second book will be, but I have some ideas. Something to look forward to!

Meow! Till later!

Alex Ultra: Yip Yip Yip!  
LATER


End file.
